Mass Effect: Salvation
by dtrammell95
Summary: At a distant time in the future, the galaxy is at a crossroads with a group of scavengers caught in the middle of a race to claim a coveted piece of ancient technology that may very well have the ability to alter the past and present of all that they know.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everybody, this is my first attempt at a spin-off (sort of) of the Mass Effect series, let alone my first publication (still very much a work in progress), so please provide feedback and suggestions on characters, plot, etc. I would very much like to receive your input on where the plot goes and how the characters develop, so please don't hesitate to leave me a comment! Thanks again!**

Mass Effect: Salvation

Prologue

The silence of the dimly lit hallway was finally permeated by the sound of screaming, and then the rushing of footsteps. A door opened at an end of the hall, and a blood-soaked doctor stepped out and let loose a sigh. With a grim face he walked down the corridor to the man waiting at the far end.  
"Mr. Benhail, isn't it?" the doctor asked. The worried man finally stopped pacing and looked up. "Yes?" he asked anxiously. "I've got good news and bad. The good is that we were able to perform an emergency C-section to save the baby. But," he said, lowering his head, "Medi-Gel will not be able to stabilize the multiple gunshot wounds your wife acquired."  
The man, grief stricken, tried to speak. "I see," was all that he could muster. "If there are any final words you would like to say wife, now would be the time," the doctor said, and then quickly retraced his steps down the hallway. The man was again alone standing there, solitary in his grief. After a few seconds he was able to gather his strength to walk down the hallway to the operating room.  
Steeling himself for what he might see, he slowly opened the double doors. The operating room was brightly lit compared to the hallway. Leaning against the wall nearest to him were two nurses talking earnestly. As the man walked in they both adopted mournful expressions. Towards the back of the room the man could see another nurse and the doctor tending to a motionless body. The man urgently walked towards them.  
"You may not want to look sir," said the nurse, stopping him. "It's okay, Lantaya," said the doctor, "Let him through." The nurse stepped aside and allowed him to see. What he saw next almost made in cry out. The body of his wife was barely recognizable to him. Riddled with many wounds, it seemed to be a miracle that she was alive still, if barely so. The man knelt beside the table and put his head on her shoulder and silently cried.  
"Corbyn, is that you?" he heard barely. "Katie?" he said, raising his head. He lifted his head to see his wife open her eyes and weakly smile. "I'm so sorry," he heard her whisper. "No, no, no, you have nothing to be sorry about," he said, trying to have a confident tone. "I had to do it, for our son's future," she said, straining for breath. "Not recklessly like that!" he said. "It was worth it, I promise," she said. "Worth your life, our son's life?" he said, with a mixture of anger and sadness. "Yes, and everybody else's too," she said. "It's the key to rewriting history as we know it, Corbyn, everything!"  
"What are you talking about Katie, I don't understand what you mean!" he said with confusion. "I found it, Corbyn, the location of the machine we've been looking for," she said. He became silent, as if contemplating the validity of what she said. "How's this even possible?" he asked after a moment. "Well, it wasn't easy…"she said, trying to maintain a sense of humor. "Just…listen Corbyn. You'll need to access my gray box. It contains the coordinates of the machine and everything you'll need to activate it. It's by my side here, I didn't allow the doctor to take it," she said.  
He went to the other side of the table, where she revealed a small rectangular device concealed in her pocket. "Take it, please," she said. "It is the future Corbyn, I know it," she said. Corbyn caught a faint momentary glimmer of hope in his wife's eyes.  
"I...I don't know what to say…" he said, shaking his head. " Tell me you'll take care of our son, always," she said. Struggling to find words he said, "Of course." "We haven't even thought of a name, have we?" she said weakly. "No, we haven't had any time," he said regretfully. "Hayden," she said softly. "Hayden..." he said, thoughtfully. "I guess we can work with that," he said smiling. He glanced over to see his wife's eyes closed, with a peaceful smile on her face. "Katie?" he asked. He felt for her pulse; there was none. "I love you," he whispered and a lone tear came to his eye. Slowly he rose to his feet and left the room.

Chapter 1

Dawn was breaking over the barren hills of Tarus. The view could not be called aesthetically pleasing though, thought Hayden Benhail. Choked by an atmosphere of methane and carbon dioxide, it was a planet only a vorcha could love. But, for the time being, he was stuck with this lifeless rock. His actions the night before had cemented that reality. Not caring to reminisce any longer about his night of gambling away the little he had, he adjusted his respirator mask to make it as comfortable as possible and set off down the slope. It would take another half hour to get to the dig site on foot. The fact that Tarus had little to no infrastructure meant navigating the treacherous terrain unguided and hazardous. Jagged peaks and rocky crevices dotted the landscape, giving the world a dismal portrait. But it also meant there were unexploited ruins to be found and searched.  
Tarus had once had a flourishing mining industry, but the War had done away with it. Now the ruins were the only thing left of it. "Wildcat" miners such as Hayden and his team were the only presence in the abandoned mine shafts.  
But this was no ordinary mining facility. Shortly before the War came to Tarus, miners had been extracting eezo, or Element Zero, from Tarus's crust when they found an ancient Prothean underground complex. But, before they could capitalize on this find they were eradicated. Or so the rumors said. And Hayden's team took an interest in rumors, especially ones that involved an ancient and sometimes seen as a mystical race known for its priceless technology. Digs like these could be dangerous though. Many Prothean ruins still had active security VI's patrolling the rubble. Hayden liked challenges though. His team was fully equipped to handle any situation thrown at them, including fifty-thousand year old security systems. This wasn't the only problem though Hayden realized as he rounded the final bend. Standing next to the entrance of the mine were five figures he recognized. "Camden's Hoarders," Hayden muttered as he approached them. "Hayden, what an unpleasant surprise," said the bulky batarian in the middle of the group with a smirk. "Camden," Hayden said with a forced smile, "What are you and your band of misfits doing at my dig? I thought we had an agreement." Camden's smirk broadened into a threatening smile, while his four eyes angled upward to increase the effect. "It seems our little deal has been overridden by a…higher power," he said. "And what higher power would care about my lowly dig site?" said Hayden tauntingly.  
"One with many credits," Camden said while looking to his men. "Now you have two options. One, you could walk away now and scavenge through a pile of scraps somewhere else," Camden's group exchanged a few snickers, "Or," Camden said, drawing attention to his holstered pistol, "We can dig a shallow grave for you somewhere over there," he said as he motioned randomly to his right.  
There was a short silence as Hayden considered his options. "Or," he said finally, "you could leave my dig site in peace and tell your boss there were too many of us to handle." There was another short silence and then Camden and his crew exploded in laughter. "I don't get what's funny," Hayden said perplexed. Camden finally stopped laughing and said, "Isn't there a popular human saying, "You and what army?" Hayden scratched his head and said, "Yeah, there is." "Well I'm wondering where your army might be." Hayden pointed to the north of their position. "Up there on the ridge," he said. Camden squinted his four eyes to see through the methane cloaked sunlight. "Not seeing anything," Camden said. "Now my offer still stands. Leave now or you become a waste of breath very soon," he said, signaling his men to draw their weapons. "Not happening," Hayden said firmly. "Okay, it's obvious he's not backing down so-,"  
Camden's sentence was cut short by a sharp whirring noise and then an impact sound. Hayden looked up to see Camden's shocked expression, and followed his eyes to the ringleader's chest where a pool of blood was forming. "Atalus," Hayden said smiling. Camden's gang froze in shock. "Take him down!" Camden said sputtering as he fell to the ground. The group came out of their daze and sprang into action.  
Hayden, realizing he was in the fire zone, dove behind the nearest dirt pile and drew his gun. Bullets impacted the sand pile he knelt behind. "Where's the rest of the gang?" he said to himself. He got his answer five seconds later. Over the ridge Hayden had pointed out came two dune buggies at top speed. Both mounted with AL-22 heavy machine guns, Hayden realized Camden's gang would be mincemeat very soon. Thirty seconds later he was proved right.  
Coming out from cover, he approached the buggies coming to meet him.  
"Hayden!" said the dark haired and stocky masculine man stepping out of the buggy in front, "You can't seem to stay out of trouble, can you?" "It looks like trouble came to us for a change Damon," said Hayden. "Just another situation where I had to save you," Damon said grinning. "Yeah, yeah," Hayden said rolling his eyes. "So, what were those scavs up to when we rode in and saved the day?" asked Damon frowning at the bodies. "We could ask Camden, seems like he is still breathing," said Hayden. "Not a kill shot, huh?" said a rugged voice behind Hayden. Hayden and Damon turned to see a familiar turian walking towards them. Standing six foot seven, having avian like features, and a nimble bony carapace, Atalus was a definite example of his species.  
"Crap, if I'd only aimed a little to the left," said Atalus regretfully. "Don't take it too hard my friend," said Hayden smiling, "there's always a next time". "Plus," said Damon looking pleased, "We get to interrogate him," he said pointing to Camden. "Let me do the talking," said Hayden. "Or for once, I could do something other than calibrate the guns on these buggies," said a voice behind Hayden. Damon adopted a quizzical look. "What do you know about getting information out of somebody, Jarack?"  
Hayden looked to see a dust covered batarian getting out of the buggy behind Damon's. "I was a prisoner of war, remember? Or were you too inebriated last night to recall anything I said?" said Jarack with a smirk. "Why you smug little batarian-," Damon said, starting to trudge over to Jarack. "Hey!" said Hayden stopping Damon, "This isn't the time."  
Jarack's guttural laugh filled the air. "Never could figure out why he hated being called out like that," Jarack said as he walked over to the group. "I don't think we've met," said Hayden extending his hand. Jarack took it and shook it. "Jarack Tesh'Mar at your service," he said, "I do the dirty work Damon says he's too good for," Jarack said, walking over and patting Damon on the shoulder. "Batarians are grimy anyway, what's the harm?" Damon said grinning. "Ok, ok you two, you've flirted with each other enough," said Hayden facetiously. "Right, right, back to business," Damon said, with a mock accusatory glare directed at Jarack. "Ugh, am I going to have to interrogate this guy by myself?" Atalus said sighing.  
The four turned to face Camden, only to find a pool of blood and a trail leading into the darkened mine. Everybody turned on Damon. He adopted a wry expression. "What'd I do?" he asked innocently. "Come on, he couldn't have gotten far," said Hayden, who began jogging towards the mine's entrance.

The sunlight gave way to pitch black darkness as Hayden descended into the mine. "Flashlights," Hayden said. Four beams pierced through the darkness. "So who is this batarian, Camden?" asked Jarack. "A guy that's always getting in our way," Damon said. "A guy specializing in the same area of…expertise as us," Atalus added. "If you can call it that," Damon said. "So why show up here, of all places?" Jarack said. "My guess is because of what's hidden here," Hayden said. "And what's that?" Jarack asked.  
"Aisle upon aisle of Prothean data archives," said Damon, grinning with obvious anticipation. "Covered by a mountain of eezo," muttered Atalus. "Is that a problem?" said Jarack frowning. "No, except that the mining crew who first discovered it went missing after finding it," Hayden said. "And it wasn't the War," said Damon. "My guess is that the builders of the complex didn't want it to fall into the wrong hands," said Hayden, "So they covered it with a near impermeable amount of eezo and made sure it had the max amount of security," "Or so it's said," said Atalus. "So you're going off a rumor?" said Jarack skeptically.  
"Not necessarily," Hayden said. "We received a tip from a trusted source about some sort of Prothean 'mecca' of sorts in this sector. From there we basically followed the rumors," said Hayden matter-of-factly.  
"How do you know this 'trusted' source of yours is giving you valid information?" asked Jarack. "He could be sending you on a wild goose chase." "Not likely. We've known this guy for a long time," Atalus said. "He's always done us right," said Damon reassuringly. "Plus, he's-,"  
Hayden was interrupted by a machine-like rumble. "What was that?" said Jarack. "Sounds like someone is trying to power up the main entrance doors," said Hayden frowning. "Camden more like it," growled Damon. "He'd need the activation codes to get anywhere with those blast doors," said Atalus. "Where could he have gotten those?" asked Jarack. "No clue. He'd have to have an amazing decryption device. We have the only set of codes for the mining facility," said Hayden.  
As he said this another rumble was heard and a bright light ahead of them shone through the darkness. A lone figure could be seen stumbling through the entrance.  
"He's opened the doors!" said Damon. "How's that possible?" said Atalus. "Must've been some hacking device," Jarack muttered. "Come on, we have to catch up to him!" said Hayden, breaking into an urgent sprint.  
The group of four reached the entrance to the mines moments later and surveyed the doors. Atalus walked over to the holographic keypad. "What the-I've never seen anything like this. Hayden, come take a look," Atalus said, motioning to him.  
Hayden walked over to where his companion was standing. "Look at this," said Atalus, pointing to the keypad. Hayden saw a series of complex numbers constantly changing. Hayden brought up his Omni-Tool. "Scanning now," he said. What he saw next gave him a puzzled frown. "It's a type of hacking code I've never seen before," he said, "Somehow it gave Camden access to pre-War encryption databases which allowed him to find the correct codes."  
"What kind of connections does this guy have?" said Jarack. "Camden has always been a small time hustler, nothing else," said Damon folding his arms. "Now it's looking the other way around," Atalus said, seeming to be in deep thought.  
"Whatever connections he has won't help him beat time," Hayden said, pointing to a blood trail leading into one of the illuminated mining tunnels. The group all at once began to walk briskly in its direction.  
Only a few paces into their walk, they felt a breeze. "Breathable air," Atalus commented as he looked at his Omni-Tool diagnostics. The four removed their respirators. Damon took a deep breath and grimaced. "Oh, I hate recycled respirator air," he said with resentment. "It's either that or an agonizing death due to asphyxiation," Atalus said with a slight smirk. "Do you ever get tired of yourself and those lame jokes of yours?" Damon asked with a glare. "Only when they don't piss you off," Atalus replied with a wider grin. Jarack deeply chuckled. Damon flashed an angry look at him. "What?" he asked.  
Hayden sighed. "For the tenth time, can we please get back to our mission?" he asked. They resumed their walk.  
"How is he still alive, let alone walking still?" Jarack asked after a moment. "Significant loss of blood, probably going into shock, doesn't seem possible," said Atalus with uncertainty. "Unless he's a krogan in disguise," said Damon facetiously. "Fat chance of that," said Atalus firing back. "So let's say he reaches the complex before us. How does he expect to get past us with whatever data's in there?" asked Jarack. "Camden has always been a suicide mission type of guy. He'll try to get what he wants no matter the cost," said Hayden. "Even at the cost of his own life? He's more of an idiot than I thought," said Jarack shaking his head.  
The four reached a three fork diversion in the tunnel. "There's no blood trail now," Damon said puzzled. "This just gets better and better," Atalus said. "We've got the schematics for the tunnels, don't worry," Hayden said as he pulled up his Omni-Tool.  
Everybody gathered around Hayden. "Okay, according to the layout the largest deposit of eezo last recorded by the mining team is down the tunnel to our left," said Hayden. "What's the plan once we get to the complex?" Jarack asked. "Atalus will input the cipher we acquired to deactivate the facility's security protocols, and then…we waltz right in," said Hayden with a small smile.  
"Wait…you have a Prothean cipher? How did you even decode it?" Jarack said with a hint of bewilderment in his voice. "It was… a gift from my dad. It was partly decoded when he gave it to me; we only needed to connect the missing parts," said Hayden as he brought up a projection of a rectangular object.  
The piece was about a hand's length long with a singular line that ran the length of the piece and seemed to glow with a greenish light. "Any more questions? "Hayden asked in a seemingly annoyed tone. Jarack shook his head and the group set off down the left tunnel. "What's with him?" Jarack whispered to Damon once Hayden was ahead of them. "He doesn't like talking about his dad. They had a falling out," Damon whispered back. Jarack took on a contemplating look.  
"What's with you guys?" Hayden shouted to them from ahead. "Nothing!" Damon said as they ran to rejoin him and Atalus.  
As the group progressed, they began to see blue tint to the rock around them. "Eezo," Atalus said, "We're on the right track." "Look for any sign of machinery, it might lead us to the excavation point," said Hayden.  
As the four turned the corner, the brightly lit corridor suddenly spiraled downward into dense black. "This is it," said Hayden matter-of-factly. Pulling a flare out of his satchel, Hayden lit and threw it into the chasm. As the flare ricocheted and fell, the angle of the tunnel was revealed. "At least a forty degree slope," Atalus noted. "Looks like we're rappelling. Damon, you have the gear?" Hayden turned and asked. Damon seemed to be in a trance-like state staring downwards. Hayden frowned. "Damon?" he asked, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder. Damon suddenly spun with almost superhuman speed and within a second had Hayden in a choke hold.  
"Woah!" said Atalus taken aback. "Damon, what are you doing?!" Jarack yelled. "Damon, I don't-," Hayden said, struggling for breath. "Shut up!" said Damon sharply, pulling a gun from his holster and pressing it against Hayden's head. "Damon, what is this about?" said Atalus. "You can't help me, no one can!" Damon shouted back. "What do you mean?" Jarack asked. Damon slowly was backing towards the shaft. "There's—there's no choice," Damon stammered, his eyes darting between Atalus and Jarack. "Damon, whatever it is-," Jarack started. "Stop!" Damon said firing wildly at Jarack's feet.  
Taking advantage of Damon's focus on Jarack, Atalus drew his rifle and fired, hitting Damon in his left arm. Damon fell backwards with Hayden, who tried to maintain his balance, but was too close to the edge of the shaft. Both Damon and Hayden were sent spiraling out of control down into the deep void. Their descent was almost uncontrollable as they continued to fall down the steep slope.  
Trying to stabilize himself, Hayden covered his head with his arms, bent his knees, and put his feet first. What seemed like an eternity later he hit even solid ground with crushing speed. Instant and excruciating pain came to him. Realizing his legs and feet had taken much of the damage, Hayden tried to lift himself up with his arms, but to no avail. "I'm not going anywhere," he muttered.  
"Precisely," said a menacing voice as Hayden felt immense pressure being exerted on his legs. "Aah!" Hayden cried out in pain. "Peculiar thing, mind control. It can turn your most devoted enemy into your best friend," the voice said. Hayden knew the voice all too well.  
"Camden," Hayden said struggling under the crushing force, "you never were leadership material, so you turned to manipulating people." "It's not that hard, really, when you know where to apply tension," Camden said applying more pressure to Hayden's legs. "Aggh, you know you won't get anything from me Camden," Hayden said. "I think you underestimate me Hayden, but that'll change. For now, I want the cipher." "You really think torturing me is going to get you what you want? Think again." Hayden said, trying to keep his cool under the pain.  
"I can crack that gray box of yours, but it'll take time. Time I don't have. I'd rather do it the easy way," Camden said, twisting Hayden's legs. "I choose the hard way," sneered Hayden.  
Camden bent down to Hayden's level and removed the gray box from Hayden's satchel. He scanned it with his Omni-Tool. "It looks like the gray box is keyed to your ocular eye print, so I really don't need you, per se," Camden said with a wicked grin. "I think your forgetting about my team…again," said Hayden, trying to stall Camden.  
"I think you have too much faith in your team Hayden. Sometimes you have to do things yourself!" Camden said, bringing his foot down on Hayden's left leg. "Aah! How do you expect to get out of here alive, huh? Do you really think my team will let you walk right by them?" Hayden said gritting his teeth. There was a short silence as Camden assumed a thinking pose. "I don't know Hayden. But I'm going to take pleasure in these next few moments," he said, pressing his gun to Hayden's head. Hayden closed his eyes.  
What he heard next sounded like a shrill war cry. "Aaah!" cried Damon as he slammed into Camden with a perfect tackle. Hayden opened his eyes to see both men writhing on the ground, each trying to get the upper hand. Fumbling for his own weapon, Hayden realized he had lost it during the fall. Looking around for anything to use, he saw Camden's gun strewn on the ground. Rolling onto his stomach, Hayden used his hands to propel him forwards to the pistol. "Hayden-Aagh-could use your help here!" Damon said, obviously struggling against the bulkier batarian. "Ugh, working on it!" Hayden replied. Reaching the weapon, Hayden aimed it at Camden's head. "Stop!" he yelled.  
The two men stopped struggling and looked in Hayden's direction. "On your feet!" Hayden yelled, motioning to Camden. As Camden stood, he smiled. "Ah, Hayden, you have me at a disadvantage again. But don't you want to know how I controlled your friend here before you kill me?" Hayden and Damon exchanged a look of disbelief. Camden glanced at Damon and spoke.  
"As I said, it's not that complicated, all you need is a control-," he said tapping his head, "and a dependent," he said, broadening his smile towards Damon. "What did you-what did you do to me?" Damon said with growing dread in his voice. "All I needed was you to be vulnerable, which wasn't hard last night. By the way, having any short term memory loss, hmm?" Fear became distinguishable in Damon's expression.  
"I needed something to ensure success in my little scavenger hunt here, so why not pick one of your team Hayden? I knew you were after the same thing I was, so let's say, what do you humans call it, two birds with one stone?" Camden said with a little chuckle. "Seems like your plan backfired, didn't it? Didn't factor in long falls did you?" said Hayden. "Actually, I think the implant will be online again in three, two, one…go," said Camden in an authoritative voice.  
A distinct change seemed to occur in Damon. A deadly glare came to his face as he turned his eyes towards Hayden. "Crap," Hayden said.  
Damon bridged the gap between him and Hayden quickly. With uncanny strength he lifted Hayden from his position and threw against the nearest rock face. Crumpled on the ground, Hayden lifted is eyes to see the newly transformed Damon quickly trudging towards him. Picking him up by his neck, Damon slammed him against the wall.  
"Ha, spectacular isn't it? An implant chip the size of a credit chit is able to indoctrinate even the strongest willed," Camden said advancing to Hayden's side. "Killing me...Aah…won't change anything," Hayden struggled to say. "You're right. I've got a better idea. You allow me to scan those eyes of yours, and I won't give the terminate order to your friend here," Camden said motioning to Damon. "I'm still dead if you do that," Hayden said.  
"No, no, you misunderstand me. I'll give the terminate order to shut down his brain. You see, the implant can act as a kill switch too. So which will it be; him, or you?" Camden said. Hayden looked into his friend's eyes and realized what he had to do. "Okay," he managed to say. "Good! Stop," Camden said in the same authoritative voice. Damon's instantly let go of Hayden, who fell to the ground gasping for breath. "Now let me see those eyes of yours," said Camden. Damon shoved Hayden against the rock face once again. Hayden looked into Damon's eyes. What he saw back seemed to have no clue who he was, and didn't care. Something that seemed only to know how to hate.  
"Damon, do you know who I am?" Hayden asked. Damon didn't reply. "Damon, I know you're in there, and you have to fight it. You have to remember who I am. C'mon buddy, you have to snap out of it somehow!" Hayden said with force. Damon seemed to exhibit a flicker of doubt. "It's no use Hayden, he is firmly in my grip. Now, about those eyes," Camden said walking over to Hayden. Hayden turned to face Damon again. "Damon, if you don't break out, everything we've risked, everything we sacrificed is in danger! Remember what our mission is?" Hayden asked. Damon's left eye started twitching uncontrollably and Damon mumbled something inaudible. "What is our mission?" Hayden repeated. "To…Prothean…," Damon mumbled. Damon's grip on Hayden suddenly relaxed, and then finally released. Damon's eyes rolled into the back of his head, and then he crumpled to the ground.  
Hayden, realizing he had a split second to react, used the strength he had left to lunge at Camden. "What-," was all he heard before smashing head first into his unprepared enemy. Camden, although caught off-guard, was by no means finished. Using his superior physique, he was able to deflect Hayden's blows and deliver a few of his own. With a powerful kick, Camden sent Hayden spiraling onto the hard packed ground a few feet away. Hayden tried to stand, but realized he could only kneel in place. Camden, seeming to have impossibly managed no wounds, strode confidently to Hayden's side and mockingly tsked. Hayden, breathing heavily, looked upwards to the grinning batarian.  
"What are you looking at?" he asked. "You don't know when you're defeated, do you? Or is it that attitude of yours that just doesn't seem to want to go away?" Camden said, sounding like he was trying to understand a puzzle. "No," Hayden said with a glare, "I just know when somebody is about to get what they deserve." "And what's that?" Camden asked. "Retribution," Hayden said motioning to an area behind Camden.  
The batarian barely had time to react before several shots echoed through the narrow cavern. Camden's haughty, prideful look instantly turned into one of shock as he looked down to see his growing wounds. His once impressive stature crumpled to the ground. "Hayden!" a voice shouted.  
Hayden lifted his head to see both Atalus and Jarack rappelling down the side of the steep shaft he had minutes ago fallen down. Hayden gingerly tried to lift himself up to a standing position, but instead collapsed to the ground beside the gasping Camden. Hayden breaths became ragged as he watched his friends approach. A weak chuckle suddenly came from Camden. "You'll never beat him, you'll never beat him," Camden said through increasingly short gasps that seemed to emanate a louder and louder laugh. Suddenly Camden's body became still and his eyes glazed over. Hayden breathed a sigh of relief and then passed into darkness.

Hayden awoke with a gasp, and sat upright. His eyes darted around, expecting trouble. He realized his torso and hands were covered in some sort of cloth. Expecting some sort of trouble he threw it off and tried to stand.  
"Woah, take it easy!" said Atalus steadying him. "Just sit down, relax. You've been through a lot." "What's happened?" Hayden asked with suspicion, his body still in fight or flight mode. He scanned his surroundings. Laying a few paces away was Damon, still incapacitated. Tending to him was Jarack, who was pressing his head gently with a wet cloth. The rest of their equipment lay close by.  
"You passed out shortly after we reached you and Camden," Atalus explained. "What? I-," Hayden said with confusion. He glanced around, and his eyes fell on an overturned body a few paces away. Suddenly it came rushing back. "Did you check if-," he began. "He's really dead? Yes," Atalus finished. "He had multiple high dollar stimulation implants we found in his brain, which allowed him to move and fight with incredible speed and lethality." "That still doesn't explain his rapid healing," Hayden said sitting up.  
"I know, it's amazing. His body's ability to replicate and replace lost cells at the impact areas is almost on par with a fully developed krogan!" Atalus said with a seemingly childlike wonder. Hayden only saw this type of awe in his turian friend when they found old Prothean medical equipment. "How's this possible?" Hayden asked him. "One of his implants was fried, I suspect immediately when he died. This chip probably controlled an instantaneous application of Medi-Gel to the traumatized area, which allowed him to quickly recover," Atalus said, bringing up his Omni-Tool.  
"Also," he continued, "I found something odd. At first I thought it was gray matter and overlooked it. But," he said, looking towards Jarack then lowering his head towards Hayden, "then I decided to take another look. It was another implant, but very inconspicuous. It was meant to look like part of his cerebellum, but in truth it's some sort of manipulator, a control chip if you will," Atalus said. "I can't be for certain, but I analyzed the remnants of the chip, and it's registered to a company called Synergy Unlimited. It might be beneficial for us to check into them after we get out of this nightmare of a place," he said finishing.  
Hayden sat back on his hands and considered. "First, we need to gather whatever data is stored in the vault. Without that, we have no heading," he said. "I hope the cipher is still in good shape after your tumble down the shaft, let alone your fight with Camden," Atalus replied. "You haven't looked at it yet?" Hayden said frowning. "I had my hands full tending to Damon. His vital signs just now became stable," Atalus replied, sounding slightly irritated. "Sorry, didn't realize his condition was that bad," Hayden apologized.  
"You got scuffed up pretty good too," Jarack said, wiping his hands and walking over to the two. "Batarians are some tough sons-of-guns, I'm sure you understand," Hayden said with a small grin. "Oh, believe me, I do," Jarack said returning the grin. "So, you two going to let me in on our little heist plan?"  
"Still trying to figure out how we're going to manage moving two disabled and heavily injured men, not to mention whatever data caches we find in there," Atalus said with a sigh. "No kidding," Jarack said crossing his arms. "What's Damon's condition? Do you know when he'll be functional again?" Hayden asked. "Like I said, he's stable, but there's no telling when he'll wake. Plus, there's no telling how much damage that implant caused. We'll need to take him to the nearest medical prof-," Atalus explained. "Okay, I get it, he's in bad shape," Hayden interrupted.  
He sat back pondering for a minute, allowing Jarack and Atalus to exchange worried glances. He finally spoke. "It'll have to be me and Jarack that go into the vault while you watch over him Atalus," Hayden said. A look of shock and dismay that Hayden rarely saw etched its way across his friend's face. "What? No! Only you and I know what to expect in there. You can't expect me to sit on the sidelines while you do this!" Atalus said with an accusatory glare.  
"Atalus, without your help, Damon might slip into a coma, or worse. Only you can keep that from happening. Neither me or Jarack have near the experience you do," Hayden said with resolve. "But, I-," Atalus tried to begin. Hayden put his hand on the turian's shoulder. "Listen, I don't like the situation any more than you do. But would you rather us not go at all?" Atalus bent even closer to Hayden and said in a low voice, "I'd rather you do this with somebody you can trust," and then stood and went to tend to Damon.  
Hayden reflected on what he said. It was true they barely knew Jarack, but what was the possibility of the seemingly friendly and trustworthy batarian betraying them? Hayden realized he would have to risk it. He turned his body to face Jarack. "Jarack, help me up," he said motioning to him. Jarack trotted over Hayden from where he was preparing their gear. He grabbed Hayden under his arms and then looked up for permission to lift him. "Okay," Hayden said determined. Jarack lifted Hayden to a standing position. "Agh," Hayden grunted. "You feel okay?" Jarack asked, frowning at Hayden's near crippled legs. "I'm fine," Hayden growled. "Alright, we'll try a few steps," Jarack said applying extra strength to support Hayden's torso. Hayden slowly and carefully put his left leg out in front. His foot hit with a loud _thud_ on the hard packed subterranean ground, creating a reverberating echo. His next step was easier, and as he progressed forward, he found that he was able to stand by himself. "Atalus, you're a miracle worker," he said to the turian. Atalus rotated his head towards Hayden and gave him an acknowledging smirk.  
Hayden then turned to inspect their gear. Bending down, he took inventory. "Well, I'm glad you and Atalus were carrying most of our things, most of my gear seems to have been trashed," Hayden said to Jarack. "Well you can't necessarily expect wildcat grade equipment to survive a hundred fifty foot fall like that," Jarack said, folding his arms in a defensive position and revealing a small smile. "I know, I know, but it's been awhile since our last grave robbery," Hayden said pausing, and returning a sarcastic smile, "so we haven't had time to invest in grade a equipment." "That's what you call yourselves, grave robbers?" Jarack asked, shouldering his equipment. "It's what the 'reputable' people call us," Hayden said shrugging. "I didn't realize there were any of those type left," Jarack said, retaining his smirk. "It's debatable," Hayden said, going along with the batarian's sarcasm.  
"Hey, just to inform you, the sooner you get this done the better, just in case, you know, Damon slips back into a debilitating coma," Atalus said, copying their sarcasm. "Got it Atalus," Hayden said. He turned to face Jarack and motioned towards the direction of the supposed archive. "Let's go," he said.

The glow of the lanterns illuminating their camp soon faded and the perpetual black of the subterranean underworld soon enveloped them. "It's a straight shot from here," Hayden said as he turned on his flashlight.  
"No more surprises, you think?" Jarack asked. "Not until we reach the archive," Hayden said humorously. "You really didn't go into details back there on the layout of the archive or what you expect to find," Jarack said. There was a short silence with only their footfalls being heard. "I'm not sure," Hayden began, "because every site we've been to that is even remotely Prothean is different. Each site is architecturally designed in a Prothean style, but at the same time reflects the culture of the race they conquered in that area. Goes to show the Protheans weren't entirely warmongers," Hayden said in a musing tone. "So you're saying we might only be able to get in the front door?" Jarack asked inquiringly. "Prothean security is universal, so the cipher should be able to pass all checkpoints," Hayden replied. "Any booby traps?" Jarack queried. "Do you mean dormant security measures? Maybe," Hayden commented candidly. "You're not worried about that?" Jarack asked with surprise.  
Hayden stopped walking and turned his flashlight on Jarack. The batarian saw a grin spread across his counterpart's face. "As long as you don't touch anything without me okaying it first, I promise we won't get vaporized. Good enough?" Hayden asked. Jarack gave a thumbs up. Hayden's grin turned into a smirk and he began walking again. Their walk was silent once again, only being interrupted by thud of their footsteps on the underground.  
After a few minutes of walking, the two came to a blockage of the tunnel by a barrier of large rocks. Hayden and Jarack began studying the formation with their flashlights. They both looked around for a second tunnel path, but found none. Hayden let loose an exasperated sigh and ran his fingers through his hair. "I think Atalus will be waiting a little longer now. Let's see if we can lift these boulders," Hayden said walking over to one of the bottom rocks and testing his strength. As he began to lift, his near-crippled legs gave way beneath him. He fell with a grunt onto the ground, stirring up a cloud of dust. He frowned. Jarack came over to help him but Hayden motioned him away. With great effort he stood. He assumed a contemplating stance. "There's no other way," he said to himself after a moment. "What?" Jarack asked. "Some of these rocks are five times our size. There's no way we'll be able to lift them," Hayden said. "Looks like we're blasting through." "Is that really safe?" Jarack asked, doubt edging at is voice. "Nothing below ground is necessarily safe," Hayden explained, "especially around reactive eezo; but," Hayden said with an exhausted and painful smile, "what's a grave robbery without some risk?" "That risk could get you, a near debilitated man, put in an early grave," Jarack said with a near concerned look on his face.  
"Trust me my friendly batarian, I've been through far worse before," Hayden said, clapping Jarack on his shoulder as he moved for his satchel. Jarack didn't seem easily convinced as was apparent by his defensive stance. "So, just curious, how many times have you done this exactly?" he asked uncertainly. Hayden didn't reply as he bent down and rifled through his pack, revealing a moment later revealed an electronic detonator. Jarack frowned, the nearest he could come to looking worried.  
"Don't tell me this is your first time," he said as Hayden brought out two cylinder metallic objects connected by a thin wire. Hayden continued to avert his gaze as he continued to rummage through the bag. Jarack bent down to eye level with Hayden. " _Please_ don't tell me this is your first time doing this," he said with emphasis. Hayden looked up at Jarack sternly as he continued to delve into the pockets of the pack.  
He finally removed his hand to show a small tube with a cap. "This is actually my second time, thanks," he finally replied as he began to unscrew the cap. After the cap was removed, he began to squeeze the tube, which smoothly dispensed an amount of gelatinous gel into Hayden's hand. He began applying it to the two cylinders. "What's that?" Jarack asked, eying the gel warily. "It's my proof I've done this before," Hayden answered curtly. He continued to rub the substance across the objects, until they were completely covered. He then walked to the boulder pile and firmly placed the cylinders separated from each other against two large rocks. They stuck in place. Hayden wiped his hands against his pants and walked back over to where Jarack stood. The batarian's frown didn't leave. Hayden began to fumble with the detonator, until the batarian's disconcerted glare became too much to ignore. Hayden looked up at him with an oblivious look. "What?" he asked.  
"Tell me exactly what you think you're doing, or I'm walking out of here," he replied, the glare not leaving his face. Hayden looked away and sighed. He scratched is head and looked off. "My plan was to create a controlled timed explosion, little enough not to cause an even larger cave-in that I'm sure the miners experienced," he replied, still looking off into the distance. "How do you know that happened?" Jarack pushed. "I don't, I just know that pile ups like this don't happen for any random reason," he replied, looking back at the batarian. For the first time, Jarack saw a hint of doubt in his counterpart's face.  
"So, how are you expecting to control this explosion? We're deep underground," he asked, trying to get the better of Hayden's doubt. "The explosives I have have the ability to be rendered inert in portions. So," he said walking over to Jarack and showing him the detonator, "all I have to do is set the correct portion of the explosives to use into this trigger, and," Hayden made a fist with one hand, "boom goes the dynamite." "But?" Jarack said leading him. "But, I'm not sure of the right amount to use. One mistake, and either the blast is ineffective, or we get buried."  
It was Jarack's turn to be silent as he studied Hayden. "What's so important that you have to risk your life for in there?" he asked bluntly. "How do you mean?" asked Hayden frowning, with a slight air of defensiveness. "Your friend's in a coma, your legs were crushed; we might be facing a life-or-death situation, and you still want to go forward. Why?" Jarack asked perplexed. Hayden's face suddenly became stern again. "I'll keep my reasons to myself," he said as he looked down at the detonator and began programming it.  
"What is there on this forsaken vorcha planet, that Camden, with all his radical enhancements, would desperately want?" Jarack prodded with greater intensity. "I don't know," came the muttered reply. "You don't know? You've known Camden for years and you say that he's never done anything this haphazard. What could _possibly_ be down here?" Jarack asked walking over to Hayden.  
Hayden suddenly spun around with apparent anger and pointed his finger at the batarian. "Look! I don't why you're here, and I could care less. All I know is that Damon recruited you, and now he's out cold. For all I know you'll hold me at gunpoint any second now and take whatever I have left. Or, you could wait until we get to the vault and then do it. If that's the case, be like all the other batarians I know and get it over with!" he said, thrusting the gun from his holster towards Jarack like an invitation.  
There was an impermeable silence as Jarack looked from the gun to Hayden several times slowly. Without speaking, Jarack turned his back to Hayden and walked several paces and stood with a slight aura of defiance. Hayden snorted contemptuously and returned to programming the detonator. There was a moment's hesitation as he debated the correct amount of explosives to use. His finger finally inputted the code for affirmation. Hayden allowed the detonator to hang by his side as he closed his eyes and released a deep sigh. A few seconds past, and he finally opened his eyes and tried to look determined. He turned around and walked past Jarack. "You might want to stand back," he muttered as he walked farther down the tunnel. Jarack gave only a grunt as he stayed a few paces behind Hayden until they had walked a significant ways back towards their camp.  
Hayden finally stopped walking and brought up the detonator screen. "This might be loud," he commented as he pressed the Yes button. There was an instant deafening sound as the explosives detonated. Barely a second later, dismembered rocks began flying in the two's direction, sending them diving for the ground. The sound produced from the explosives then turned into a thunderous noise as the underground earth shook with the impact it had just taken. The rumbling lasted for a few long seconds as Hayden and Jarack both crouched in a fetal position. The roaring of the subterranean rock finally died down, and the two cautiously unwrapped themselves from their defensive positions.  
Standing up, Hayden flipped on his flashlight to see the ground littered with rocks of all shapes and sizes. "Did it work?" Jarack asked looking around him. "Only one way to find out," Hayden said softly, already fixed on the path ahead. The two began walking back in the direction the cave-in, stepping over piles of newly created boulders gleaming with veins of eezo.  
Moments later they were halted prematurely by a larger boulder blockage than the one they had tried to destroy. Jarack sighed. "This is what you tried to prevent Hayden," he said flatly. Hayden put out his arm and leaned on the pile with despondent resignation. "I know," he said, his voice being barely heard. Jarack folded his arms. "Are there any other options?" he asked. Silence followed. "No," came the short reply. Before Jarack could reply, Hayden began to mutter under his breath, barely audible, "Should've known, knew people would come after us, too valuable for anyone to pass up."  
In sudden anger, Hayden kicked a boulder that was closest to him, and then picked it up and threw it at the pile, loosing a yell of frustration. Jarack tried to approach and put a hand on him, but Hayden shoved him away. He bowed his head, and put his hands to his temples. Suddenly, his head darted upwards as he looked toward the rock pile. He pointed his finger at the middle of the pile. "Did that-," he began. He walked toward the pile and picked up a fragmented rock. He ran his thumb over the surface of it. "Graphite," he said softly. "Graphite?" Jarack asked perplexed. Hayden walked briskly to another fragmented rock and examined it. He started to chuckle after a moment. "I can't believe this!" Hayden said beaming. He started to laugh. "What? What is it?" Jarack asked, more dumbfounded than ever. "Can't you see?" Hayden said with a wide eye grin, grabbing Jarack by both arms and pulling him over to the pile. He pointed to the rock. "Uhh, what am I looking at?" Jarack asked with obvious confusion.  
Hayden picked up a small rock and gave it to Jarack. "Run your finger over it," he commanded. Jarack uneasily brushed his finger across the rock, taking off flakes of it easily. "It's soft," Jarack said, the realization slowly dawning on him. "Exactly! Get your pick," Hayden said as he ran over to his satchel. Jarack did the same. After a moment he produced a cylindrical device. Pushing a small button on the side, the object folded outwards into a full sized pick. The two walked back to the pile. "Let's see if we can get to the top of it," Hayden said.  
They began scaling the pile discreetly, taking care with their footing. When the top was reached, they began to search for good placement. Finally, they wedged themselves between two larger rocks. Hayden exhaled shortly. "Okay, we have to do this the right way, picking and choosing what to hack at; otherwise, the whole pile may collapse and crush us." "Like we haven't had that risk already," Jarack said sarcastically. Hayden only grunted in affirmation.  
They began to pick gingerly at the soft rock, taking care to watch their surroundings. The progress was achingly slow because of their position, and their constant need to attain relief for their legs that were becoming increasingly strained by the stress of being wedged between the unstable rocks.  
After what seemed an eternity of laborious chipping at the top of the pile, they finally were able to remove a few of the larger sized rocks. Peering through the gap, Hayden let loose a habitual sigh. Jarack at his position strained to see. "What is it?" he asked. "More rocks," Hayden said, shaking his head in exhaustion. Jarack rested his body on the outcropping of rock they were leaning on and joined Hayden in a sigh.  
After a long moment of silence he said, "Maybe it's a sign, I don't know, to turn back. These rocks will take days to clear, even if they're soft." Hayden stopped examining the gap and looked at Jarack with a shocked glare. "No, I'm not giving up," he said, resuming the picking at a nearby rock. Jarack sighed. "Look, whatever your reason is for being down here, it's not worth it. What's to say you can't find it elsewhere?"  
Hayden stopped working and glared again at Jarack. "It can be only found here," he replied, and started working again. "What can?" Jarack asked. Hyaden stopped again and let loose a frustrated sigh while rubbing his forehead. "Look, if you don't want to finish this with me, fine. Go back to Atalus and tell him I'll do it by myself," he said, and once again resumed picking. Jarack looked away into the darkness and stared. Finally, he began to chip away at the nearest rock. Hayden looked down briefly and nodded approvingly.  
The silence became the norm again as they chipped away. Finally Jarack shouted up to Hayden. "I think there might be a crawlspace!" he exclaimed. He began to push other rocks out of the way. Hayden looked down from his work and suddenly a look of alarm came over him. "Stop!" he yelled urgently. Jarack had just finished removing most of a jagged boulder. He frowned. "What?" he asked. Rocks began to tumble from the top of the pile towards Jarack. "Jump!" Hayden yelled as he gave up his position and dived for the ground. Jarack looked alarmingly at the approaching boulders and a split second later did the same.  
A deafening crash almost equivalent to the one before followed as the boulders made a fatal fall. A large amount of dust filled the air. Hayden sat up coughing and looked around. The resulting collapse had left the top portion of the tunnel clear, enough to where the two could crouch and make their way through. Hayden's feeling of elation turned quickly to dismay as he searched the rubble and found Jarack's crumpled form face down. He darted up and dashed over to the limp batarian.  
"Jarack? Jarack, can you hear me?" he said with growing fear. He struggled for a minute to turn over the heavy batarian's body, but finally succeeded. Jarack's four eyes were closed and he didn't stir.  
"Jarack? Jarack!" Hayden repeated as he felt for a pulse. It was increasingly slower. "Jarack, wake up man!" Hayden yelled as he began to do a rudimentary form of CPR. Seeing nothing was happening, Hayden let out a frustrated growl and started hitting his fist repeatedly against the batarian's chest.  
Suddenly the batarian's eyes shot open and he sat up with a gargling sound. His eyes flitted in multiple directions until they finally rested on Hayden. His breathing came in urgent pants. When he finally was able to control his breaths he managed to say, "What kind of revive technique was THAT?" Hayden returned the shocked look and sat back on his hands in a dazed stupor. "I don't know," he replied, almost to himself. Jarack shook his head back and forth. "Wow, I thought, I thought that boulder would…" he trailed off. He looked up at Hayden. "Thanks," he said shortly. "Any day," Hayden replied, still looking at the ground with a dazed expression.  
For a minute the two sat there, nothing being said. Jarack was the first to rise, although wobbly. He checked his surroundings and saw the clearing at the top of the tunnel. He sniffed. "Well, that did the trick in the end, didn't it?" he said, glancing over at Hayden. Hayden slowly rose to his feet and started checking himself for wounds. "Yep, I guess it did. We have more than enough crawlspace now, don't we?" he said, releasing a short laugh. Jarack repeated the laugh. "Yep, I guess we do," he replied.  
The two stood staring at each other for a moment. Hayden held out his hand. "Friends?" he offered. Jarack looked down at the outstretched hand. He brought up his, and shook it in the age old tradition of agreement and friendship. "Friends," he replied, smiling as only a batarian could. They released each other's grip, and both stared in unison at the newly created passage.  
"Well, you want to see what's down the rabbit hole?" Hayden asked, not taking his eyes away from the tunnel. "What?" Jarack asked in confusion. "Nothing, nothing, just another human saying," Hayden replied as he shook his head and started for the passage. Jarack caught up to him and they began to scale the relatively smaller pile until they had reached the crawlspace. Once there, Hayden retrieved his flashlight from his satchel and started investigating their entrance. The light shone into the darkness, but only for a short ways. "Hmm, we might be crouching for a pretty long time," he remarked. "Great," Jarack replied, "can't wait to be sore in the morning."  
The two began cautiously inching their way into the cavern. After squatting a ways and using their hands to steady them, they decided to try crawling on all fours. Shortly into the crawl, Hayden began coughing. "Ugh, limited air and dust don't mix," he choked out. Jarack let out a significantly louder cough. "Your cough's contagious," he said.  
Silence except for their grunting and coughs reigned as they inched ploddingly forward. Finally, Hayden's flashlight which he had kept reflecting of the passage's sides to monitor their progress finally went off into oily blackness. "We've made it," he said. The two reached the end of the tunnel a minute later. Hayden pointed their lone flashlight down and saw the rock pile slanted downwards onto hard packed ground. The two looked at the other in affirmative and position themselves into sliding positions. The end of the pile was made mostly of small rocks packed together, allowing them to slide down easily to the bottom, and landing them with a resounding thud on the floor. The two stood. "All right, where are we?" Jarack said, trying to inspect the surroundings. Hayden began waving his light around them. The beam rested on the cavern ceiling high above, where large thorns of rock gleaming with eezo protruded downward. Hayden then glanced the light around him.  
The cavern was at least four hundred feet in each direction. As he was allowing his beam to roam around him, he stopped and rested it on something large. He frowned and advanced towards it. Jarack, who had been inspecting the other side of the cavern, turned around and followed him. The object was a massive metallic object, obviously not belonging there. "It's a bulldozer," Hayden said, sweeping his light across it. The machine had been residing there for a significant time, as was apparent by the growing rust encompassing most of the body. "So they stopped here?" Jarack said, eying the individual parts of the dozer. "Maybe. Or it could've broken down before they reached the archive," Hayden commented, already directing his light elsewhere.  
"Hey, wait! Bring the light over here again. If I can find the eezo core on this machine I can identify how long it's been here,"Jarack said, motioning for the light. Hayden brought the light to rest on Jarack.  
The batarian pointed to an exposed panel of the engine. "Looks like most of the parts are corroded, but the eezo core should be the most resilient thing in here," he said, pulling on the panel viciously, finally tearing it off. He knelt down, and started ripping out other parts from the dozer's underbelly. "Found it!" he exclaimed. Hayden knelt down by Jarack and peered the light into the center of the engine.  
Jarack removed and revealed a small metallic square box with connector tubes branching out of it. "The eezo core should be encased in here," he said. Placing the box on the ground, he took his pick and smashed it. Hayden bent down with a look of curiosity. "Put your light on it," Jarack commanded. Hayden turned his light to focus on the shattered remains.  
What he saw was a clear sphere container containing the faint but unmistakable glow of eezo. "Okay," Jarack said, picking it up. For a moment he rolled the sphere around in his hand, inspecting every angle. "Hmm," he finally said. "What's the date?" Hayden asked expectantly. "It's definitely pre-War," Jarack said, still studying the sphere. "How do you know, for sure?" Hayden asked.  
"Manufactured Element Zero, after it's been stimulated by an electrical current for the first time, typically has a shelf life of four hundred years, give or take a few years," Jarack said with an unexpected educational tone. Hayden's gaze turned to one of thoughtfulness. "That's one large margin of error to say for certain it's pre-War," he commented.  
"Two things," Jarack started. "One, I doubt there were many miners active immediately after the War, and two, manufactured eezo these days is much more crude than back then. I was going off an estimated time for eezo cores these days," he finished. Hayden stretched out his hand contemplatively. "So you're saying a pre-War eezo core could have a margin of error of a few months, instead of years?" he asked. "Weeks," Jarack replied shortly. "Shows you how far we've fallen," Hayden said thoughtfully.  
"What does the date have to do with it anyway?" Jarack asked frowning. "The device I'm looking for," Hayden replied, the stern expression returning. "You're not going to tell me anymore, are you?" Jarack said folding his arms. "Nope," Hayden said, suddenly walking in the other direction. Jarack shrugged his shoulders and dropped the core.  
Trotting up to Hayden, he asked, "This cavern is large. How are you expecting to find the archive without getting lost in here?" "This," Hayden replied, removing the gray box from his satchel. He gave it to Jarack. "Bring it up to my eye level," he commanded.  
Jarack brought it up to level, and a small slit opened in the top left hand corner. Hayden put his left eye almost to touching the box. A bright light briefly emanated from the slit, and then it closed. Suddenly, the box hissed and popped into two pieces in Jarack's hand. Hayden motioned for the box. Jarack gave it to him and looked on with curiosity as Hayden had with the core.  
Hayden removed the lid and removed a single rectangular object. "The cipher," Jarack said, remembering the projection earlier. Hayden put his thumb to the center of the cipher and it began to emit an unearthly green glow along a singular line. "Once close enough to the archive, say within a few hundred yards, it will begin to brighten," Hayden explained. "Great. For a minute there I didn't think you had a plan," Jarack said, giving one of his signature smirks. Hayden snorted. "You know, you're starting to sound like Damon," he replied, and then started walking.  
They began to scour the cavern. After going to each end, including going past the decrepit bulldozer with no results, they reached the middle again.  
"I guess the only way is forward," Hayden remarked. "No other direction," Jarack agreed. The two plodded in the opposite direction of the entrance to the cavern. After a moment of walking, they both stopped at a gap in the cavern wall. "Hmm," Jarack said, "Guess we should have come this way in the first place." Hayden didn't reply as he scanned the dimensions of the gap with his flashlight. "It's a near perfect semi-circle," he murmured. He shone his light into the tunnel. No reflection of light came back. Hayden cautiously entered.  
Suddenly, the cipher in his hand brightened considerably. Hayden looked down and nodded as if in reply to its new luminosity, and then moved forward, Jarack behind him. The passage was straightforward Hayden realized.  
After a few minutes, the two reached a solid stone wall. The cipher shined all the brighter. Hayden exhaled. "I don't suppose you have more blasting charges?" Jarack asked frowning. "No," Hayden said bluntly.  
He began to feel the wall, and then stopped abruptly where the wall met the sides of the cavern. He began brushing the area with his hand, stirring ancient accumulated dust. He finally stopped and stepped back. He illuminated the space with the cipher, allowing Jarack to see a small vertical slit the size of the cipher.  
Neither spoke as Hayden slowly lowered the cipher to the slit. Suddenly, an unseen force sucked the cipher from Hayden's hand into the opening. The two stepped away, taken aback. They both looked at each other with incredulity, and then looked back at the wall. Moments passed as nothing happened.  
Suddenly, a green light much like the cipher's split the wall in front of them. A low rumbling sound could be heard emanating from behind the wall. The rock face suddenly split along the green line and opened. Un-shielding their eyes from the bright light, Hayden and Jarack peered into the opening.  
At first, a dense blackness greeted them, but suddenly another green light far above them began to race ahead of them, illuminating their surroundings. Hayden's eyes grew wide.  
In the eerie light he began to see aisle upon aisle of small objects that resembled the cipher. A sound broke his awe-inspired gaze and he looked over to see the cipher had been pushed out of the slit. He picked it up and slid it into his satchel. He then took a step forward into the illuminated chamber, and stopped.  
He realized he couldn't move. His legs and feet simply refused to budge. Looking over, he found Jarack in the same position, struggling to move. Jarack grunted. "What is this?" Jarack asked as he tried to pull on one of his legs with his hands. "I don't know," Hayden replied, trying to twist his body. Apparently from the waist down they were essentially paralyzed. The two began grunting and struggling as they tried freeing themselves from the unknown force. Hayden continued to try pulling on his legs, but to no avail. "Ugh, nothing's wor-," Jarack cut off. Hayden stopped struggling and looked up to see what had caused the batarian to stop abruptly. What he saw made him freeze.  
A fully projected hologram of a being stood in front of them. The creature did not resemble any race that Hayden knew of. It was tall, with a large carapace head that had distinct edges. It also had two pairs of eyes on each side of its head. Its garb was one of flowing robes that reached down to cover its supposed feet. Hayden could only arrive at one conclusion: the being was Prothean.  
"You are attempting to access the secure archives," the being said suddenly in a surprisingly booming voice that echoed throughout the vast room. The two exchanged glances. "Uhh, yeah, sure," Hayden replied to the shimmering projection.  
"What is your business here, or more appropriately, what are you seeking?" the hologram asked. The two looked at each other again, silently questioning if they should tell the truth. "Umm, we are here on official state business, highest level clearance," Hayden replied finally. There was a prolonged silence. Hayden and Jarack looked worriedly at each other.  
"It has become apparent to me that you are lying, and furthermore that you are not of the Prothean race," the projection said in a flat tone. Jarack shot a frown at Hayden, the closest his kind could come to looking frantic. "Crap," Hayden muttered under his breath as he looked downwards, not willing to confront the being eye to eye.  
Finally, he looked upward at the projection, trying not to sound unnerved. "The question should be, how do you know our language?" Hayden asked, willing himself to be confident.  
"I have been monitoring your progress since you entered within the minimal distance of this complex, and have had time to scan your neural pathways to gain knowledge of your linguistics," the projection replied in the same tone as before. Hayden frowned. "The minimal distance?" he asked.  
"To determine if you're a threat," the hologram replied. Knowing nothing else to say, Hayden replied, "Well, what do you think?" "You're continued existence relies upon my previous question: What do you seek?" the supposed Prothean questioned.  
Hayden glanced over at Jarack, who still immobilized, just shook his head and closed his eyes, probably waiting for their almost certain impending annihilation. Hayden lowered his head after a moment and thought. Finally, he returned his gaze to the hologram.  
"Answers," he finally replied in a bold voice that caught him off guard. "Pertaining to what?" the projection asked. "The cipher that opened this facility," Hayden replied.  
The holo didn't reply for a moment, as if thinking, and then said, "Manufactured in the Fifth Era, at the expressed wishes of Overseer Kamar Idshan for his personal use in accessing secure vaults across the Taratur region of space."  
"Tell me more about Kamar," Hayden said. "Born in the year 533 of the Fifth Era, rose to the position of Overseer after exemplary military service in the campaigns against the race known as the Rakeni. All information after this point has been expunged from my knowledge," the being informed.  
Before Hayden could think of a response, Jarack blurted out, "So what are you?" "I am a closed circuited intelligence, designed to maintain the archives," the hologram said motioning behind him, "or as your cycle calls my protocol, a 'virtual intelligence' ". "So you can tell us the information that is contained in this complex?" Jarack asked. "Correct," the VI responded. There was an uncomfortable silence, and then Jarack said, "Well, why don't you?"  
"I can read your stress levels that indicate if the motives you claim are true or not, but I cannot read your thoughts. You must tell me of your inquiry here of your own volition," the hologram replied. Jarack looked from the holo to Hayden with an inquisitive look. Hayden looked at him, and then dropped his gaze. After a moment he looked up again at the projection, opened his mouth to speak, and then stopped. The priceless question. Hayden sighed, and then spoke.  
"I'm looking for information on a device." "Clarify," the VI replied. Another period of silence. "One that would enable you to time travel," Hayden said.  
"What?" Jarack exclaimed, looking shocked. "What would you use such knowledge for?" asked the VI. Jarack's astonished look turned to one of incredulity as he stared at the hologram. "Wait, it's possible?" he asked. The program didn't reply, but simply looked at Hayden.  
"To revert the mistakes of the past," Hayden answered. The next moment of silence was almost unbearable, with Jarack shooting both the VI and Hayden looks of amazement and disbelief. "You will find the source of your query in Section 108, row 413," the VI said, and then suddenly the hologram winked out of existence. Jarack and Hayden exchanged looks of confusion. "That's it?" Hayden yelled into the darkness.  
A split second later, Hayden felt his invisible restraints vanish as he fell a foot to the floor. He looked over to see Jarack free as well. Suddenly a bright line of green appeared in front of them, and then twisted and curved off into the darkness. The two looked at each other once more, and then followed the line. "I guess the thing deemed us worthy," Jarack muttered sarcastically. They began following the line.  
"So, of all the things you could've asked for, you chose time travel," Jarack said after a moment. The two began winding there way between the towering shelves containing the glowing cipher-like archives. "Yep," Hayden replied bluntly. "There has to be something better-you know, in fact, I can count a thousand different things in here that'd be more worth checking out," Jarack said, gesturing to the surrounding archives. "Uh huh," Hayden said, unaffected. "A species that ruled the entire galaxy," Jarack continued, "and you want to learn about _time travel_? _"_ "Mhmm," Hayden replied, still looking ahead. "Hey," Jarack said, laying his hand on Hayden's shoulder and stopping him.  
Hayden turned to face him and sighed. "What is it now Jarack?" he asked wearily. "I want to know why you want this much," Jarack said. Hayden sighed and looked around. "I made a promise, okay?" he said, shrugging his shoulders. "Really? That's why you're down here?" Jarack said skeptically. "Yes," Hayden said, and then began walking again. "Hey, wait wait wait, I need to know more about this," Jarack said, jogging to catch up. "What's there to know?" Hayden muttered, almost as if to himself. "Who would want to know about time travel, and who would think that the Protheans would have any knowledge on it?" Jarack asked. "My father," Hayden replied. "Wait, your father's the one who sent you on this crazy ride?" Jarack said laughing. "You know, in the batarian military, there's a saying, 'your commander keeps his position only as long as he makes the right choices'". "Maybe that's why your species has never been able to expand beyond their local area of space; except for, you know, the smugglers and terrorists," Hayden replied, still looking ahead. "Oh, and my dad has never been my 'commander'," Hayden said, making quotation marks in the air.  
"Then why are you doing this?" Jarack pushed. "I made a promise to a dying man," Hayden said softly. "A dying man? Wha-," Jarack began, and then stopped and looked down. After a moment he said, "I'm sorry." "Yeah," Hayden said simply. "What happened?" Jarack asked. There was silence.  
"He called himself a freedom fighter, him and my mother. They fought the supposedly corrupt government of the world they lived on around the time was born, which led to my mother being killed. My father was able to get off world with me just in time before the so called 'death squads' caught up to us," Hayden said, stopping and leaning against one of the archive walls. "My dad and I jumped across half the galaxy, him working salvage jobs. Sometimes he'd leave me to fend for myself at the places we stopped, just so he could go look for something he called the 'object' with the spare change he had earned," Hayden said, looking down and rubbing his eyes.  
"Well, one day when I was nineteen, his old enemies caught up with him and finished the job. I found him a bloody mess, barely breathing. His last words were 'find it.' He pulled out the gray box he never let out of his sight and gave it to me. Then he was gone," Hayden said looking up. His face looked tired and gaunt, as if he had aged twenty years in a few minutes. "I-," Jarack tried to say.  
"Stop," Hayden said, putting up his hand. "I know you're skeptical about all this, and I get it. Over and over again I've had people tell me it's a waste a time. Even if it is, I made a promise, and I'm going to keep it. So my offer still stands; you can go back and wait with Atalus for me to get back, or you can continue on with me."  
Jarack stood there for a minute, arms crossed, staring at Hayden, and then let loose a sigh and relaxed. "I really don't want to go back there and play nurse," he said smirking. Hayden smiled. "Okay," he said, pushing himself off the wall.  
The two resumed walking alongside the green guide, which was the only illuminator besides the faint glow of the cipher-like archives. Jarack was the first to speak again. "So what was your father planning on doing with the info he got on time travel?" he asked. Hayden shrugged. "Not sure," he replied, "he never told me anything. I guess he felt like it was his burden to bear." "Burden to bear?" Jarack scoffed. "You make it sound like the galaxy is at stake." Hayden chuckled. "Maybe he thought it was," he replied.  
Their conversation was cut short as they reached a reached a high stone wall. The green line ran directly into it. Hayden and Jarack looked at each other uncertainly. Their attention was suddenly drawn upwards as they saw something descending along the wall. The large cylindrical and plain grey object stopped at ground level, and with a hiss half of it opened to reveal a brightly lit inside chamber. "Elevators," Hayden muttered, "I hate elevators." Jarack laughed. "The fearless salvager Hayden Benhail has been scared by an elevator. Come on, it can't be that bad," he said, grabbing ahold of Hayden by the shoulders and pushing him towards the elevator. "I just don't like elevators," Hayden said through clenched teeth.  
Jarack continued to urge him forward until they were completely inside the cylinder elevator. Jarack noticed a panicked look on Hayden's face as the cylinder closed itself. "What happened to you?" he asked. Hayden had outstretched his arms to brace himself against the elevator's sides.  
"I had a bad experience when I was ten, okay?" he said, the fear evident on his face. The cylinder lurched upward, and as in unison Hayden let out a gasp. Jarack walked over to Hayden, who was staring at the floor, and put his hand on Hayden's left shoulder. "It will be fine," he said. "How do you know that?" Hayden asked hesitantly. Jarack looked down and around, searching for an answer. He finally laughed.  
"You really think the masters of the galaxy would build something that would be faulty? That would crash and burn? Come on, you know them better than I do, what do you think?" Hayden didn't say anything for a minute, as he thought about it. Finally he cautiously removed his hands from the elevator sides. "I guess you're right," he said, looking around warily. "Seems I find out something new about you every minute," Jarack chuckled. "What about-," Hayden began, but was cut off by the sudden stop of the elevator. The cylinder opened, and the two peered out.  
In front of them was a small platform that gave way to an enormous arch that was in similar style to a primitive arch on Earth. It was semi-circular in shape, but was not adorned with anything. The green line suddenly appeared and shot through the gaping archway. The two stepped out of the elevator and followed. Going through the arch, they entered a vast hallway that was illuminated by ribbons of green light running along the walls on either side.  
At first, there were no doors or openings, but as they advanced the two noticed large concrete doors flanking each side of the hallway. Next to each was a placard containing a form of calligraphy. "Wow," Hayden breathed, "nobody has seen, at least nobody I know of, any form of Prothean writing or expression of language. If I was an archaeologist then this would be a gold mine." "Yeah, but instead your a scavenger that takes what he wants and gets out," Jarack jestingly. "Exactly," Hayden said smiling.  
They continued to walk through the silent hall, the only sound being their echoing footsteps. "Aren't you a little curious as to what's behind these doors?" Jarack asked. "Yeah," nodded Hayden, "but I kind of get the feeling that VI is watching our every move, and I think it's only allowing us to access what we asked for."  
"But didn't it say that the cipher you have belonged to an overseer?" Jarack asked. "An overseer in the Prothean Empire wasn't what you're thinking. He was more like the head of security, or a garrison commander of sorts," Hayden said, as he looked at each placard they passed by. Jarack frowned. "How do you know that if nobody has seen any form of their language?" he asked. A secretive smile spread on Hayden's face. "Inside information," he said unrevealingly. "What?" Jarack said, his frown deepening.  
"My dad had this recording he prized a lot of an interview done shortly after the War. It was with a Prothean." "What?" Jarack repeated, astounded this time. "Yep," Hayden said. "A real live Prothean interviewed. He had been put into cryostasis and survived. Supposedly he helped win the War. Anyway, when they asked him about his life fifty-thousand years ago, he said he was an overseer." "It could have been something completely different than what this guy did," Jarack reasoned. Hayden shrugged. "Maybe. But I'm not willing to get on this VI's nerves since it's let us in the front door," he said. This seemed to settle the debate as Jarack didn't reply.  
Finally, after walking what seemed to be a lifetime, Hayden and Jarack began to see the end of the hallway. As to affirm the end of their journey, the green line winked out after resting in front the concrete door that was in front of Hayden and Jarack and signified the end of the corridor.  
As the two approached the massive door, a faint light caught Hayden's attention. It was emanating from his pouch. The cipher had begun to glow again. He removed it from his satchel and held it up. "Look for a hole," Hayden said. "That will not be necessary," a booming voice suddenly said. Startled, Hayden and Jarack looked around for the source of the voice, but found none.  
A second later, the massive door in front of them shuddered and groaned, and began to lift upwards. Hayden and Jarack gazed expectantly into the room beyond.  
At first, the inside was completely black, but then the familiar glow of green light began to reveal the contents of the room. It was not a large room. Several shelves lined each wall, but all were empty. The two then looked at the middle of the room, and saw a dais with raised steps. Hayden was the first to trudge forward into the room. When he reached the steps, he cautiously stepped up onto the first step. Hayden looked back at Jarack and smiled. "No shield," he said. He climbed the rest of the way to the dais and stopped. It was simple, having no special features. Jarack joined him a moment later and frowned.  
"This is it?" he said confused. "Can't be," Hayden muttered. A sudden hiss made the two jump as a small compartment emerged from the center of the platform. It was a small empty rectangular box, and, as Hayden realized, the exact size and shape of his cipher. Still holding the cipher in his hand, he looked at Jarack, who looked apprehensive.  
Nodding his mutual feelings, he slowly deposited the cipher into the box. The container suddenly and swiftly snapped back inside the dais, and the opening closed. The room was silent except for the two breathing. When nothing happened for a moment, Jarack let out quiet chuckle. "Well, I guess they took back what was theirs," he said. Hayden let loose a weary sigh and set down on the steps.  
As soon as he had done this, a sound from the back of the room caught his eye. Looking over his shoulder, he realized the shelves lining the back of the room were compressing together, and the wall was moving to each side of the wall, revealing a small room. Standing up, Hayden stepped down the steps and looked on.  
The circular room that had been revealed was even smaller than the one they were in, but was in stark contrast to it. It was filled surprisingly with natural light being emitted from what looked like an oculus in the center ceiling of the room. The light perfectly illuminated the whole chamber, revealing all the contents contained there. A colorful and heavily detailed mural decorated the wall, circumventing the circumference of the room, depicting what looked to be scenes of war. Colorful tapestries hung from the ceiling, blocking parts of the mural. Hayden and Jarack's stunned gazes finally came to rest on the center of the room, which contained a large coffin-like stone box.  
The two moved forward, slowly, drinking in the details of the room. Hayden walked along the wall, gazing at the mural. "It's Protheans, and what looks like other races fighting," he observed as he walked. "There's one of them though that looks different, he's portrayed differently." As Hayden was saying this Jarack walked over to the stone object. Inscribed all over on what looked like the lid of the casket was the Prothean calligraphy. Jarack ran his fingers across it. "Wish we could read this," Jarack said softly.  
Hayden continued to follow the wall. A segment of it showed the Prothean standing on top of a massive pile of bodies with what looked like a gun raised high in one hand. "This guy definitely wasn't a pacifist," Hayden commented. He came to the end of the mural and stopped. Depicted in the segment was the Prothean, but much smaller than before. He was looking up at something.  
Following his gaze, Hayden saw what looked to be a massive robotic figure, having an oddly shaped body. Five tentacle like legs supported a semi-cylindrical body that sloped upwards into a pointy ending, giving the creature a resemblance to a squid from Earth. The machine or robot or whatever it was was scaled to be at least a hundred times larger than its counterpart. Hayden naturally looked to his right for more mural to understand the piece, but there was no more. It looked like the mural was unfinished. "Huh," he muttered.  
"Hey, Hayden! Come over here. I think I can lift this thing," Jarack suddenly exclaimed. Hayden turned around to see Jarack trying to pry what looked like the top piece of the stone monument off its base. Hayden rushed over to him and put up a hand.  
"Stop! We don't know what's in there," he said, grabbing one of Jarack wrists. Jarack looked astonished. "I thought this is what you wanted Hayden," he said frowning. "It is…just wait a minute. We have no clue what could be in there. Could be a fifty thousand year sarcophagus, some piece of technology, or even a booby trap. Let's just do it slowly," Hayden said, slowly pulling Jarack's hand off the lid.  
Jarack stood back and put his hands on his hips. "You really think the VI would let us walk in here and then kill us?" he said unbelievingly. "No…well, I don't know. Let's just be careful, okay?" Hayden said. He turned his back on Jarack and began to examine the rectangle of stone. "There was a people from our history who made tombs like this, and they'd booby trap it to safeguard the treasures they put there," Hayden said as he knelt down and began to feel the object. "The Egyptians, right?" Jarack said. "Don't you think that your species weren't the only ones with brains enough to guard their loot?" Hayden chuckled softly. "I don't see very many batarian buried treasure caches floating around, now do I?" Jarack simply grimaced. Hayden chuckled again and continued to examine the object.  
As he began to examine the side of the object opposite of the entrance to the room, he noticed a small cylindrical piece protruding from the side of the object. Cautiously he slowly pushed it. A hiss and popping sound suddenly emanated from above him and he saw that the lid of the stone table had become detached from the main piece. He stood up and looked at Jarack. Jarack slowly approached the object and put his hands close to the lid and made a lifting motion. Hayden nodded in affirmation and grabbed the underside of the lid. Jarack did the same. Wordlessly Hayden directed three nods at Jarack, and then on the third lifted. Both pulled upward with all their available strength.  
The cover was surprisingly light, and the two carefully set it down to the side. They both eagerly walked back to the open object. Inside was something so ordinary that Jarack began to chuckle deeply. Hayden reached in and picked it up.  
It was a gold ring. But as Hayden studied it, he realized there was something peculiar about it. Not only was it larger in circumference and denser than any ring he had ever seen, but its inner rim contained little bumps and grooves. Also, there was one small bump on the exterior.  
"What do you think it is?" Hayden asked as he held it up to the light. "How would I know?" Jarack asked. Hayden shrugged. "Maybe you studied metallurgy in the army?" Hayden replied offhandedly. Jarack just chuckled in reply. Hayden, after inspecting it for a few more moments brought it away from the light.  
"I guess there is only one way to figure out what it does," Hayden said. He slid the ring onto his ring finger. He held it up for Jarack to see. It was obviously too large, as was apparent by it dangling from Hayden's outstretched finger. "Try putting it on your thumb," Jarack suggested. Hayden did so, and realized it fit snugly. He made a thumbs-up with the ring finger. Nothing happened though. Moments passed, and Hayden finally sighed. Then, he realized he'd forgotten about the small protrusion that was on the outside of the ring. He twisted the ring around until he could see it. He touched it, and instantly gasped. "What is it?" Jarack said darting forward. "It…pricked me," Hayden said, staring down at the ring. Suddenly, Hayden's eyes rolled into the back of his head, his knees buckled, and…..

The first thing he noticed was a torrential sound assaulting his ears. His eyes were still closed, but he was hearing what sounded like he was in the epicenter of a storm. He opened his eyes slowly and cautiously and looked up.  
He was lying face down on a circular gray slab only long enough to accommodate his outstretched figure. Around him was a blinding wind with what looked like debris of an uncertain kind blocking his view from seeing anything beyond it. Instinctively he looked down to his thumb and saw no ring. He slowly rose to his feet and examined his surroundings. "Looking for this?" a voice suddenly said behind him. Hayden whirled around to see an in the flesh Prothean. His garb matched the Prothean that was depicted in the mural. On one of his three fingers in his right hand was the ring.  
"Kamar?" Hayden asked cautiously. "Yes," the Prothean replied in a thick accent. "Are you…alive? What is this place?" Hayden asked looking about.  
"It is a neutral place, an area inside your mind that the drug has taken you to so you will be receptive to what I have to say," Kamar replied. He paused. "And no, I am not living. This is just a programmed projection to respond to the individual who has worn my ring."  
"What happened to you?" Hayden asked. The Kamar projection began pacing.  
"I was what you call a general, in charge of subjugating the local species in the area. However, unlike my fellow avatars, I wanted to retire. I was appointed overseer over several vaults containing sensitive information to my government. I also incorporated the knowledge of the local races into these vaults." The Prothean projection looked up at Hayden and adopted a look of grimace.  
"Then we heard the news. Some sort of new enemy had arisen out of nowhere and had singlehandedly wiped out our central government." "The massive creatures on you mural," Hayden said. "I have no information concerning 'my mural'," the projection replied. "They were very large, maybe several hundred meters tall?" Hayden suggested. "Yes they were," Kamar replied. "What did you call them?" Hayden asked.  
"Officially, we had no name for them, but among the men they were called Reapers," the projection replied. "Did they kill you?" Hayden asked. The Kamar image looked down again as if in thought.  
"In a way, they did. I was at a facility a few systems away from the one you are in now, and they blockaded the moon we were on, preventing anyone from leaving or relieving us." "Why didn't they kill you outright?" Hayden said with a frown. "Our facility was deep underground in the hard rock close to the core of the moon. They could not triangulate our exact location," Kamar stated. "Kind of like this complex," Hayden said softly, the realization dawning on him. "Yes," the Prothean affirmed.  
There was a silence as Hayden mulled over the information. Finally he looked up and asked, "So how did your ring and tomb become placed here?" A quick but noticeable look of pride flashed across the Prothean's face, and then it was back to a look of calm serenity.  
"After our government was overwhelmed in a matter of hours, I realized the potential of the Reapers to sweep across the entire galaxy and eventually destroy every sentient life. I devoted my remaining time to creating a vast vault to house my own and other species' collective knowledge. I then placed my ring and cipher into the hands into one of my trusted subordinates, asking him to separate them as he saw fit. The building of the facility was not yet finished when I left, but the Reapers were becoming too close. My last command to the remaining people at the complex was to finish, and then cover it with what you call Element Zero, so that the facility would remain undiscovered."  
Hayden smiled. "Our history is a little sketchy, but we had an event a few hundred years ago called the War. People say that it was a galaxy-wide, and there was an enemy like nothing we had ever seen before. We beat them, some say with the help of the ancient Protheans." A glimmer of a smile came across the Prothean's face.  
"I am glad they are finally defeated. But you are not here to know more about my race's doomed history, are you?" Hayden's smile quickly vanished and his look turned to one of solemnity. "No," he replied. Kamar looked intently at Hayden. "It is a personal reason," he observed.  
There was a period of silence as Hayden looked down, averting the projection's gaze. He looked up again and frowned. "I thought you were only an informative VI," Hayden said. "I have been linked to the facility's intelligence, giving me the ability to read your biometrics. Only one with the ones they hold close involved would have such high stress levels," the projection replied. Suddenly a terrible sound of screeching and crashing came from behind Hayden, making him turn quickly to face the noise.  
The debris that had been circling their small grey platform was beginning to collide. Hayden turned back to the projection with a questioning expression. The Prothean kept a look of serenity. "The drug is beginning to lose its effect and will soon run its course. You must tell me quickly why you are here," Kamar said calmly. Hayden still stalled. Finally, he took a deep breath and said, "I need to know what you know about time travel."  
A flicker of surprise came across the Prothean's face. "Why would you believe that I would have known anything concerning that?" Kamar asked, his voice sounding on the edge of suspicion. "I don't know. All I know is my father was fanatical about it," Hayden replied. Another sound of metal clashing on metal resounded behind Hayden, making him jump.  
"I know nothing," the Prothean said sternly, crossing his arms. "Then why did the VI of your vault tell me to come to your tomb when I asked it about time travel? Tell me!" Hayden said, shouting to be heard over the cacophony of wind and tearing metal.  
When the Prothean only looked at him sternly in reply, Hayden said, "I think you're lying. If you really had been connected to the VI then you would have known it told me to come to your tomb when I asked about time travel. Not only that, but you've been showing emotion. You're not really dead, are you?" The mask of calmness and stern serenity Kamar had been wearing suddenly changed into one of shock, then despondency. His shoulders slumped slightly. Then, just like all the other times, the vulnerability left and he was composed again.  
"I do not have long to live. I placed myself into hibernation since I could not escape the moon, only to be awakened when my ring was activated. The air in the facility I am in is dissipating quickly, and the shaft to the surface has caved in. I have no way out," Kamar said.  
Hayden's look of anger and frustration softened a bit, and he said, "I'm sorry." "Do not pity me. I will tell you what I know," the Prothean said.  
He knelt down, and suddenly the gray slab near him became malleable as he began to draw in it. Hayden knelt down opposite of him. He was drawing a planet, and out of it rose an obelisk. "Before our communications were cut off, I received a transmission from a scientific outpost, claiming that they had found a way to reverse time. There was a problem though. They needed massive quantities of Element Zero to do so." As Hayden listened, Kamar began adding details to his sketch of the planet.  
"Before the transmission cut out, they said their outpost was located in the Nasari nebula. I do not know the equivalent name in your language," Kamar said as he finished his drawing. The loudest sound yet resonated behind them. Hayden turned his head to see the flying metal debris conglomerating to form a dense black hole that was expanding.  
"Look!" Kamar shouted over the din, capturing Hayden's attention again. He was pointing to his drawing. The planet he had drawn had triangle shapes to indicate the land, and squiggly lines for the oceans. There was only one landmass. "How did you get this information?" Hayden yelled. "I tracked their signal through the relays they were using before they were sabotaged by the Reapers. This planet was the source of the transmission." Hayden looked up from the diagram at Kamar. "Thank you," he almost whispered.  
Kamar stood to his feet and nodded. "I do not know you or your race, but I hope you are a benevolent one. I regret what we did to the races below us. Maybe…," Kamar trailed off and shook his head. He looked at Hayden again intently. "If you find it, if there is anything to find, do _not_ misuse it," he said sharply. "I won't," Hayden yelled.  
Behind him, the black hole had begun to engulf the grey slab. Hayden outstretched his hand. Kamar looked at him puzzled for a moment, then he understood. He reached out his hand, and the holographic hand passed through Hayden's. Hayden smiled. Finally, Kamar allowed a smile to come to his face. "It was good meeting one of you," Hayden said still smiling. "Do not disappoint my race's memory human. _Kashmar nandi_ ," Kamar said, his hand raised in farewell, and then Hayden was sucked into the gaping hole.

The incoherent shouting voices were unbearable to Hayden. They seemed to engulf all he was, and felt like the source of his throbbing pain. Then the voices became more understandable, and he realized they were speaking his name.  
"Hayden! Time to wake up buddy, come on," somebody yelled. A vague memory told him the person's name. "Atalus," Hayden mumbled.  
"He's responding, thank the freakin' spirits! Jarack, get over here and help me prop him up," Atalus commanded. He felt something push against him, and then he realized he was sitting upright. He decided to chance it and let his eyes open slowly.  
He was back at their camp at the base of the shaft. Atalus and Jarack were standing over him, staring down at him with worried expressions. Suddenly an earsplitting pain lanced itself across Hayden's head, making him groan and fall back on his side. The two rushed to support him. "Probably didn't help that I banged him a few times going through that narrow shaft," Jarack said to Atalus. "What?" Hayden asked, teeth gritted as he massaged his temples. Jarack looked down at Hayden with a look of empathy.  
"After you collapsed I didn't know what to do, so I brought you back here," Jarack said. Hayden's eyes suddenly shot open and he looked at Jarack worriedly. "Where's the cipher and ring?" he asked. Jarack chuckled deeply. "Don't worry, my scavenging friend, I have them right here," he said, patting his right pant pocket. Hayden's composure relaxed somewhat and he sat back. Atalus knelt down next to him and asked, "So what happened?" Hayden looked at him and grinned.  
"Oh, you know, the usual; had a chat with a Prothean, learned fifty thousand years of history, and-," he flashed a triumphant look at Jarack, "found what we were looking for."  
"What?" came Atalus's shocked whisper. Hayden nodded in affirmative. "Wait, the VI told you?" Jarack asked frowning, not comprehending. Hayden shook his head, a smirk still on his face. "No, Kamar," he replied. "Who's Kamar?" Atalus asked. "An alive Prothean," Hayden said, then the smile disappeared, "now dead." Atalus still looked confused. "I don't understand," he said. "Neither do I," Jarack agreed.  
"He was alive when I talked to him, but he's probably dead now, depending on the time," Hayden said, looking at his watch. "Wait, you're telling me you talked to a living Prothean while you were knocked out?" Jarack asked disbelievingly. "His ring, it injected me with some sort of drug that allowed him to speak to me from where he was," Hayden explained. "And where's that?" Atalus asked frowning. "Some moon close by," Hayden replied.  
There was a palpable silence as Hayden looked to his two companions, both who wore dubious expressions. He sighed. "Look, I know how this sounds," he began. "Impossible," Jarack said. "Farcical," Atalus concurred. Hayden's demeanor turned despondent. "Okay, I get it, but he had to have known-," Hayden started, then stopped. A look of revelation came across his face.  
"The ring," he murmured. "What?" Atalus asked. "He communicated through the ring! Plus he must have known that I'd forget some of the information, so he would've stored what he knew inside the ring," Hayden said, the grin coming back.  
"How would that even be possible? How is any of this possible?" Jarack said shaking his head. Atalus still looked doubtful also. "We have to take it to Gerren," Hayden said to Atalus after a moment with a resolved look. Atalus sighed. "Hayden, I don't even know-," he began. "Atalus, I know I didn't make it up, it was too vivid," Hayden interjected. When Atalus didn't reply, Hayden said, "Have I ever lied to you?" Atalus shook his head. "It's not about that," he denied. "Then what could it be then?" Hayden asked, anger rising in his voice. "There's too many unknowns we don't know; you could've been hallucinating, or-," Atalus tried to say.  
"Or not. I was completely unconscious, but not in a coma state. Come on Atalus, you're the doctor here!" Hayden said heatedly. Atalus sighed and sat back, saying nothing. Jarack was the first to speak again.  
"Okay, let me take your side for a moment Hayden. Let's say you're right, no varren crap. What do we do next? We might have Camden's coworkers breathing down our necks the moment we step into the nearest settlement!" Hayden crossed his legs and thought for a moment.  
"I think we should split up, just in case, and meet at Gerren's. He's only a few systems away, not a far jump. Atalus, you take Damon and get him fixed up first. Jarack, I vote you in as part of our team now, so I need you to gather some supplies at the nearest settlement. If there's people chasing us, then they won't recognize you. Me, I'll go back to our place in Jad and tell Gerren we're coming. What do you think?"  
Jarack nodded, but Atalus continued to look uncertain. Hayden scooted over to him and put his hand on his shoulder. "Tell me what you're thinking," Hayden said. Atalus didn't reply for a second, then said, "I'm worried we're taking this too far." Hayden looked down for a moment, then replied, "I know. So much to go through just to make my father happy, and he won't even know. I promise you though, if we find nothing at Gerren's, then I'll drop it. We'll move on to something else. Okay?"  
There was a long silence, which was suddenly broken by a groan from Damon, who had been laying a few feet away. Atalus's head darted up and over as he looked at Damon. He shrugged off Hayden's hand and began to walk over to Damon, when he stopped and looked back at Hayden. He sighed again, and then said simply, "All right," and walked over to tend Damon. A small smile came to Hayden's face, and he looked at Jarack, who had his arms crossed. The two exchanged looks, and then Jarack smiled and chuckled. He walked past Hayden and said, "Can't wait to die." Hayden smirked in response and sat back.  
"You need, I mean we all need some rest before we start Hayden," Atalus said from where he was kneeling over Damon. "Whatever the doctor orders," Hayden replied, as he attempted to get up. As he got up, a wave of dizziness hit him. He half stumbled over to his pack and unpacked his bedroll. He laid it out and sat down, finding rest easier to come by than usual.

Hayden awoke with a start and looked around. The artificial light that had illuminated their camp had been set on low, leaving their makeshift camp in almost complete darkness. He reached for the light and turned it up slightly higher. He looked around, and saw Atalus and Damon sleeping side by side to his right. And Jarack…where was Jarack? There was no sign of him or his pack.  
Still a little fuzzy from sleep, Hayden examined the area around their camp, but found no trace of the batarian. He came back to the camp and knelt down by Atalus. He put his hand on him and shook. Atalus mumbled something indecipherable and rolled over. Hayden shook more aggressively, and Atalus groaned. "I set my alarm for a reason," he said irritated. "Where's Jarack?" Hayden said, ignoring Atalus's remark.  
The turian's eyes popped open and he sat up. "He was sleeping next to you right-," Atalus pointed, and stopped. An unknown realization to Hayden dawned on his friend's face. "He has your cipher and ring," Atalus said, a look of alarm on his face. The reality suddenly hit Hayden and he swore. Him and Atalus both jumped up with swiftness and ran over to the shaft base. The rappelling cable was still there. Hayden let out a breath of relief. Atalus and he immediately ran back to the camp and began packing things, but Hayden stopped and looked over at Damon.  
"How are we going to get him back up?" Hayden asked. Atalus looked up from his packing and looked over at Damon. He was silent for a moment as he considered. "I don't know, maybe I can give him a shot of adrenaline; it could restore him for a limited time, enough for us to get out of here. It could hurt him though," he said looking at Hayden. Hayden thought for a moment then said, "Do it," and began packing again.  
Atalus stood to his feet, a look of apprehension on his face, and slowly walked over to Damon. He knelt next to him and extracted a needle and filled it with a solution from his pack. He began to insert the needle into the exposed underside of Damon's wrist, but stopped. Hayden had finished packing and walked briskly over to him.  
"What's wrong?" he asked. "I-I don't know if I can do this," Atalus stuttered. Hayden frowned. "What? What do you mean you can't?" Atalus looked up at him and said, "His body is under enough stress as it is; adding to it could be fatal." Hayden looked down for a minute, but looked up, still looking determined. "You have to do it," he said, than began to walk towards the shaft. "Or what Hayden? You're going to leave us here?" Atalus suddenly shouted after him.  
Hayden stopped and turned to face Atalus. "This guy you and Damon brought along to our sight just stole something that could easily be the most valuable thing in the whole galaxy. I need to get it back," he said, and began walking towards the shaft again. "So it's about the things instead of us now?" Atalus shouted after him. Hayden stopped and clenched his fists. He began to walk back towards Atalus. "This is about my father, you stupid turian-," he said, bearing down on Atalus. Atalus rose up to meet him when a small voice uttered, "Stop it, before I have separate you two."  
Both Atalus and Hayden stopped midstride and looked behind Atalus. It was Damon. Their friend sat up with a cough. "Atalus, give me the shot," he said gruffly to the turian, "And Hayden, stop being controlling. We'll get this guy one way or another." He collapsed back down, and the two others rushed to help him. He coughed incessantly as Atalus administered the adrenaline and Hayden held him up.  
As they waited for the effects of the shot to take effect, Damon was able to stop coughing and say, "Since when do you guys fight?" Hayden and Atalus looked at each other over Damon with subdued expressions of anger.  
A few seconds later Damon suddenly gasped and inhaled deeply. "Get me up," he said. The two grabbed him underneath his arms and helped him stand. Damon looked intently towards the shaft. "Let's go get him," he said, and then began jogging towards the base of the inclined tunnel.  
"Wait!" Atalus said urgently, "I don't think it's good for you to be-," he tried to say. "I'm fine Atalus, stop fawning over me and let's go," Damon shouted from ahead. Atalus looked at Hayden with an accusatory glare, who only shrugged in response. They ran to catch up with their friend.  
When they reached the base, Damon was already clipping into the harness. He looked at his companions with a determined expression. "So it looks like we have two options. Either you guys hold on to me and we'll climb together, or I go first and you'll follow. What's it going to be?" Atalus shook his head. "Damon, you can't-," he began. "Shut it Atalus. If I have to be the boss for a while and make the decisions because you and Hayden can't stop quarreling like vorchas, then that's what I'll do," he said with unusual assertiveness. Hayden sighed. "Come on Atalus," he said, and grabbed the cable. Atalus finally relented and did the same. They began their slow ascent.  
When they reached the precipice around an hour later, they all collapsed together in a pile on the edge, breathing heavily. Damon began laughing. "I think you'll have to help me the rest of the way guys," he said chuckling. They laid there for another few minutes, and then rose together. Damon put his arms around Hayden and Atalus, and they walked through the tunnels to the surface, with occasional grunts and gasps coming from Damon.  
Finally, the three saw daylight ahead. "Thank the spirits," Atalus said relieved. They walked out into the baked landscape, and examined their surroundings. One of the buggies was missing, and the other's tires had been slashed. Atalus let out a groan. "We knew he'd do that," Hayden said in response. "Not helping Hayden," Atalus retorted. "Let's just…sit down for a minute, okay?" Damon said calmly.  
The two carried him to a sand pile near the entrance, slowly lowered him onto it, and sat down themselves. The three sat silently, staring out into the vast wilderness. Damon began grinning, and look to each side of himself at his companions, and said, "So, what's on the agenda?" Damon's humor finally got to the two, and a small smile cracked the battered faces of his friends.  
"Well, I guess it's a hike through the desert to the nearest town," Hayden said, looking out upon the whisking sand dunes. "We don't have enough water," Atalus said. "We'll use it only when we need to," Hayden replied. "Still won't be enough," Atalus commented. "It will be enough," Hayden said firmly. The two looked at each other with renewed hostility until Damon said, "Guys, I really don't want to die out here. Can we please get going?" The three sat there again in silence, then Atalus finally sighed. He got up, and held out his hand. Damon grabbed ahold and Atalus pulled him to his feet.  
The two then looked at Hayden, who was still sitting and looking out absently at the plain landscape. "Are you with us Hayden?" Atalus asked, slightly annoyed. Hayden was slow to respond. "Yeah," he said finally, "just remembering this place." Damon and Atalus looked at each other, and a goofy smile split Damon's face as he shook his head.  
"Man, I've never understood where you go sometimes," he said chuckling. Hayden looked up at him, and smirked. "You wouldn't understand it," he said getting up. "Yep," Damon said, resting his arm around Hayden's neck. "So which way?" Atalus asked, breaking their banter. "To the left," Hayden said, nodding his head in the direction the sun was setting, and they began walking.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The paralyzing cold came almost instantly after the dark. As could be expected, the three hadn't made it far. They decided to stop and make camp beneath an outcropping of rock, which provided at least minimal protection from the biting wind. Teeth chattering, and hands near frostbite, Atalus and Hayden prepared a small fire they had made from a small, warped treelike plant they had seen earlier. The two dragged Damon to the place closest to the measly fire and then sat to each side of him. They sat there shivering almost uncontrollably in silence until Atalus asked, "How far to the settlement you came from Hayden?"

Hayden looked up from the fire and looked off into the near pitch black contemplatively. "Probably another day or two with Damon's weight," he said. He looked over at Atalus with a faint look of hope. "Unless you have more adrenaline," he said. Atalus shook his head. "No, I brought just enough for an emergency, nothing more." Hayden looked back at the fire, his lips pursed.

Silence reigned again until Atalus spoke up again. "Do you have an idea why he'd take the cipher and ring?" Hayden shot him a look of irritation. "You're asking me?" he said, with sarcastic shock. The two then silently gazed at Damon, who had been quiet except for a few coughs. Sensing the silence, he looked up and frowned at them both. "What?" he asked.

"You realize you're the only that really knows this guy?" Hayden said. Damon's expression suddenly turned to one of defensiveness as he looked at the two. "Atalus, you...uh…got to know him on the buggy ride here, right?" he said, turning to Atalus. The turian crossed his arms and frowned. "No, you introduced him as 'the guy I know from way back' and then we set out." Damon's expression turned resentful quickly. "Look guys, I thought that we might need an extra hand on this dig, so I got a hold of Jarack. Okay? Nothing to it," he said, looking back at the fire. "He said something about you being drunk the night before. Is there any truth to that?" Hayden asked. Damon's reply, as if he realized he was cornered, was quiet. "Yes," he mumbled. Hayden's sigh was exasperated as he paced off a ways. Atalus knelt down next to Damon and said, "You know you have a history of saying things you shouldn't when you're like that, right?" Damon didn't reply, but his expression didn't need him too. "Do you know anything about his past?" Hayden asked, the frustration evident on his face.

Damon was silent for a minute, and then said, "Me and him worked together on this mining freighter shortly after that batarian uprising ten years ago. He was trying to disappear, and I was a nobody, so we kind of hit it off. Eventually, the captain told him he had to scram because he was attracting too much heat, so he left," Damon said shrugging.

"That still doesn't tell us about his character or what his plans are," Hayden said, still frowning. Damon sighed, but continued. "He's kind of a two-sided coin. He could act like your best buddy one second, like in card games, and the next minute you're wondering who he is. I could've sworn one time in our cabin I saw another guy's stuff in his-," Damon said, then stopped, realizing what he just said. His expression turned even guiltier. Hayden just shook his head and rubbed his eyes.

Atalus sighed as a father or mother would instructing their child, and said, "Damon, do you realize what you did? You brought the exact opposite of what was needed on this dig." Hayden's outburst was sudden and unexpected. "That's an understatement! First, you compromise our trust and our secrets by getting drunk, and then you call up your old buddy that's a war criminal and has committed who's know what to come and share in a Prothean gold mine. Tell me, should I trust you anymore?"

There was a stifling silence as Atalus looked shocked and Damon looked away. Hayden instantly regretted it. His expression of outraged indignation turned quickly to one of repentance. "Damon, I-," he started. "Don't even say it Hayden," came the sharp reply. With eyes down, Hayden walked over to Damon's place by the fire and put his hand on his shoulder, which was quickly thrust off. "Damon, I didn't mean to make it about-," Hayden tried to say. "But you did. I think Atalus is right, you're more concerned about a precious heaping crap pile of Prothean tech than you are about us. Let me ask you this: what's keeping us from ditching you at the nearest town?" Damon asked, looking up at Hayden. There was more hurt than anger in his eyes.

Unable to keep his gaze, Hayden turned away and walked to a corner of the outcropping and leaned against it. In a sort of whisper, Atalus said, "That was kind of uncalled fo-," but was stopped quickly by Damon.

"You know what Atalus, can you for once have an opinion and stop playing the negotiator? Now whose side are you on? Huh?" said Damon with a quick flash of anger. Atalus opened his mouth to reply, but then stopped himself. Silence ensued as neither of the three would relent their positions. A turbulent wind blew through their alcove, drawing shivers form each of the party, and threatening to extinguish the fire. Finally, Hayden sighed and ran his fingers through his hair as he walked back over to the two.

"I'm-," Hayden started, then reconsidered. He looked at the ground, trying to choose his words carefully, as Atalus and Damon looked on expectantly. A moment later he looked up with a look of remorse and weariness.

"You both don't deserve this. You've been caught up in my personal mission, and now we're all paying for it. I should have told you more about it before we even got started, but I got so eager-," he said, then stopped. In a small voice that Atalus and Damon could barely hear, Hayden said, "I've become like my father." Damon and Atalus looked at each other, and then their expressions of resentment softened.

Atalus walked over to Hayden, and put his hand on his shoulder. "I didn't know your father, but if he was anything like you said he was, you are nothing like him. The way you described him, he wouldn't have given even a second thought to sacrificing his friends for his cause. You, though, have stuck yourself out there for us time and again, and just because you got selfish over a piece of 50,000 year old tech once doesn't mean it's going to happen again." Hayden looked up at his friend with a hurt glare, but then realized the turian was smiling.

Hayden looked at the ground again in silence again, then shook his head and chuckled. "Atalus," he said, "that's the best pep talk I've gotten outside of Damon in a while." He looked up at his friend with a refreshed look of endurance. "Thanks," he said. The turian smiled, and gripped his friend's shoulder. "Now you get to apologize to Damon," he said, smirking. Hayden sighed and rolled his eyes. Atalus stepped out of the way, and Hayden walked over to Damon. He put his hands on his hips as he looked down at his friend. "I'm sorry," he said. Damon looked at him after a second with a contemplative scowl. He then switched his gaze to the fire, and said with a false neutral voice, "It's fine, just don't do it again."

Hayden smirked, and clapped his friend's shoulder as he walked over to Atalus. His looked turned serious as he approached him.

"This is going to be tough," he said in a low voice. "You don't think he doesn't know that?" Atalus said, motioning to Damon. "You guys don't know the terrain like I do. Good news is that there's no wildlife to deal with, unlike on Bahar," he said, getting a chuckle from Atalus, "but there's virtually no shelter after here, which means killer heat and cold and very few of those twisted trees to make a fire with." Atalus waved off Hayden's comments with a flick of his hand. "Nothing we can't handle," he said dismissively. Hayden sighed and sat down by the fire, with Damon to his right and Atalus to the left. The three shared a moment of reflection until Hayden broke the silence.

"We, I, can't allow that ring to fall into the wrong hands," he said, staring into the fire. "It might have already," Atalus remarked gloomily. There was a moment of silence until Damon suddenly exclaimed, "Hey! Didn't you say something about a company called Synergy Unlimited? I bet you a hundred credits its criminal, cheesy names always give them away," Damon said grinning. Hayden and Atalus both looked with incriminating expressions at Damon.

"You were out cold when we talked about that. How do you know about it?" Hayden asked suspiciously. "I was slipping in and out of consciousness, and I heard you guys talking, okay? Now, can we get back to what really matters?" Damon replied with a slight hint of anger. Hayden and Atalus's expressions softened and they continued.

"Damon has a point, that's our best lead," Hayden conceded. "Yeah, I was the first to suggest checking on them, remember?" Atalus reminded him. "So, what do you guys think we should do?" Hayden asked, ignoring Atalus's remark. "The classic approach of course, guns blazing," Damon proposed with a mischievous grin. "Or we could just ask for a guided tour of the place," Atalus suggested offhandedly. "So no serious plans, right?" Hayden said humorously. "What do you expect Hayden, we don't even know what this place deals in," Atalus replied. "Except mind control chips," Damon reminded facetiously.

"Speaking of Atalus, is there any possibility the chip inside Damon's head could be reactivated?" Hayden asked. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Damon slightly cringe. "I don't know, it's a possibility. The implant could've been linked only to Camden, or it could be networked to a number of controls," Atalus speculated.

"So if we run into that batarian's friends, there's a potential for Damon to side with them. Great," Hayden said sighing. There was an awkward silence as the possibility sunk in. "Wait, didn't you say that after falling down that shaft in the mine the implant was rendered inoperable?" Atalus asked. "Yeah, but it rebooted, or something like that," Hayden reminded him. "You're not knocking me out," Damon said almost instantly with firmness. "I wasn't suggesting that," Atalus denied. "It might…have to be done," Hayden said slowly.

"You're not knocking me out!" Damon repeated vehemently. "Is there anything else we can do?" Hayden said turning to Atalus. "I-I don't know, I could give Damon a sleeping pill once we get close to the nearest settlement, but that might not prevent the implant from being activated," Atalus said uneasily.

"Well, our friend doesn't seem too keen on being forcefully put out, so we should probably leave it up to him if we don't want to get knocked ourselves," Hayden said humorously as he looked to Damon. His friend looked from him to Atalus with a look of hardly concealed feigned sternness with a suggestive look, until Hayden finally sighed exhaustively and said, "Please." Damon instantly softened and said, "Okay. If it were anybody else Hayden, I wouldn't be doing this." Hayden chuckled in reply, and sat back leisurely. There was a moment of silence until Atalus looked at his Omni-Tool. "We've got seven hours to sunrise, I suggest we get a little sleep." "We're going to need it," Hayden affirmed. Within ten minutes, the day's toils had put them all sound asleep.

Hayden was rudely awakened in his opinion. Opening his eyes, his first view of the day was the goofy grin of his friend.

"Up and at 'em," Damon said while extending his hand. Hayden grabbed ahold and was pulled to a standing position. Looking around, he saw Atalus's bent over silhouette outlined by the rising methane shrouded green sun. The fire had been extinguished already, and his turian companion was nearly done packing his share of their gear. Hayden began groggily packing his things. A moment later an energy bar was thrust into his hand, with an accompanying slap on the back from Damon. Standing up and shouldering his pack, Hayden noticed Damon was almost completely devoid of any signs of his previous limp and injuries.

"Hey, you feeling okay?" he asked Damon. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" his friend replied casually. "Oh, just the fact that you got worked over yesterday by a psychotic batarian, and you were half- dead, that's all," he replied, only half-joking.

Catching his drift, his friend gave him a strange and uneasy smile while replying, "Oh yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine." Sensing the apprehensiveness, but not knowing how to reply, Hayden averted his friend's gaze and kicked around dust until Atalus promptly walked over.

"Hayden, according to what you said we should probably get going," he said before stopping and looking at the two. "Yeah, let's get going," Damon said almost immediately with urgency as he walked past the two. Atalus looked inquisitively at Hayden in response, who just shrugged his shoulders uncertainly and began walking after Damon.

The change of temperature was immediate and palpable as they exited the outcrop, easily in the mid triple digits during the middle of the morning. Hayden took a second to examine their surroundings and establish a heading. To the north was an endless looking amount of sand dunes stretching to the horizon, and to the west were menacing looking mountains that jaggedly rose towards the sky. Hayden pointed to where the two terrains met to the northwest. "That way," he told the two. "So you're telling me you traversed this hellish landscape without a buggy? How suicidal can you get?" Damon asked as he wiped his already perspiring head persistently. "Don't you wish you didn't have any sweat glands right now?" Atalus chuckled.

"Didn't have much choice…after I spent the rent money at the poker table." Hayden replied in a low voice, quickly looking the other direction. Atalus just sighed as Damon chuckled and said, "And here I thought I was the only one with vices." There was no response, and so they plodded on, occasionally checking the horizon for their progress and taking sips from their canteens.

"How much farther Hayden?" Atalus asked after they had traversed several dangerous crevices and hills. "Can't say exactly, but it should be over that rise over there," Hayden replied, indicating a range of hills in front of them that gradually sloped upwards towards the mountain range. "Just wait, it won't be over that hill, but the next, and then the next, and then-,"Damon said, rolling his eyes and making circular motions with his hands, but was cut off by Hayden. "You know what Damon, I just think that we're glad we don't have to carry you're a-," An ear-splitting roar pierced the air as the ground suddenly shifted violently beneath them, catching them off guard and throwing them to the ground. The three quickly recovered and drew their weapons, eyes darting in each direction looking for the source of the quake and unearthly screech.

"Thresher maw?" Damon shouted over the din of continued shaking. "I didn't see it mentioned in the files on this place!" Atalus shouted back. "Keep looking!" Hayden commanded as they formed a back-against-back triangle looking in all directions. Seconds passed as they continued to screen their surroundings, but no threat emerged. Abruptly, the ground stopped shaking, leaving the three perplexed and uneasily looking at each other. "What could that have possibly been?" Atalus whispered to his companions. Hayden shook his head, examining his surroundings with his scope.

"Don't know, Thresher Maws don't just break off-,"

The ground suddenly disintegrated beneath them, making them freefall for thirty feet to slam into back breaking hard ground and landing them with an echoing thud. All three groaned almost simultaneously as they felt the effects of the jarring fall.

Damon was the first to attempt to move, as he pulled himself into a kneeing position, and then put weight on his outstretched leg to help him stand, albeit shakily. He trudged over to Atalus offering his hand to the turian, who took it and stood even more dubiously than Damon, and then to Hayden, who was curled up in a fetal position and said as they approached, "How the heck are you two standing?" he said, eying them both, especially Damon.

A deep and echoing growl cut off any response however, as Damon and Atalus were forced to examine their surroundings for its origin. It looked like they had fallen into a cavern or sinkhole, which was hollow except for several pillars of dirt and rock holding it up, and having no luminosity, except for the ground they had fallen through acting as a skylight. The menacing growl came again, motivating Hayden to come out of his fetal position and look around. The two standing backed up to Hayden and pulled him to his feet.

"We need to get out of here," Damon said, nervousness tinging his speech. "That much is obvious," Atalus muttered, his eyes scanning the different areas of darkness. "What happened to our weapons?" Hayden asked, looking about. His gaze came to rest on a sand pile near the hole they made that was increasing in size gradually due to sand being swept in from the surface. A glint of metal poking out from underneath the pile caught his eye.

"Atalus, I think I see your rifle over there," he said in a low voice to the turian. His friend reluctantly took his eyes of the darkness and looked on the area Hayden was indicating. His eyes widened hopefully for a second, and he began to slowly make his way towards it. A roar louder than any before suddenly rang out from deep in the caverns, and a sound similar to galloping could be heard coming nearer, then suddenly stopped at the edge of the veil of darkness.

Abandoning all reserve, Atalus sprinted towards the sand pile and recovered his rifle, quickly bringing it up and levelling it out to meet the sound. There was an eerie silence for a long second, as the three waited apprehensively for the being to show itself.

The darkness was suddenly illuminated by six oval-like white orbs, with black circles in the middle of them. They flashed back and forth, surveying the party, and then suddenly disappeared. A plodding sound could be heard moving forward, with a sickening sound like bones crunching accompanying it. A massive figure came slowly into view, giving the three a chilling sight.

The thing could be compared to be similar to a yahg, a sentient apex predator that had a nightmarish appearance of four pairs of eyes adorning a serrated tooth-filled triangular face with a muscular nine foot tall body and scaly skin. This creature only had three pairs of eyes, but more than made up for it with increased muscle mass, two long horns stemming from its head, and a barbed tail that continually whipped about, lashing against each side of the cavern. The animal was on all fours, and was sniffing in the direction of the three, who were too paralyzed to move.

"Hayden, what do you want to do about this?" Damon suddenly asked, not taking his gaze off the creature. "I don't know," Hayden replied lowly, his body tense and hands raised. "Hayden, the sand pile," Atalus said, motioning with his head. Hayden slowly and cautiously looked to his right, and saw that the pile had increased almost enough to allow them to climb out of the hole.

"Okay, what we're going to is I'm going to provide a diversion for this thing and you two will make a run for it," Hayden said, looking to each of his companions. The creature was still sniffing, as if it couldn't pick up anything understandable off of them. Damon let out a nervous chuckle. "I've heard some stupid crap in my life, but that's at the top. You actually think you can outrun that monster?" he asked disbelievingly, looking at his friend with a disconcerted glare. "No, I was thinking we could all run at it and try to take it down with our fists," Hayden retorted, returning the glare.

"Guys!" Atalus interrupted sharply, making the creature whip its head towards the turian. Atalus paused for a moment as they waited for it to make a move, but it just continued to watch him. The turian began to speak slowly. "I think you're forgetting I have a rifle. I've been examining those columns that are holding this place up, and I think I can shoot through one of them and cause the ground above to collapse on it. It'll give us enough time to get out of here."

They exchanged glances with each other, and then looked back at the thing, which was scraping its nails against the floor as if sharpening them. "Do it," Hayden finally said. "Get ready," Atalus replied, focusing in on the nearest column to the beast.

The gun went off with a crack, bringing with it the sound of crumbling ground. The creature looked from the gun upward to the ceiling, as if surprised of the outcome, then tried to dodge out of the way, but not quickly enough, as it became submerged by the collapsing dirt and rock. Sunlight poured into the cavern from where the ceiling used to be, making the three squint and cover their faces. Just as their eyes adjusted, a sound came from beneath the pile as the creature burst out of the pile with a bloodcurdling roar, eyes fixed on the three.

"Oh frack," muttered Damon as they darted in unison for the sand pile. The animal bridged the gap between them in one leap, making them scatter, Atalus firing wildly at it. He was the first to be intercepted by the beast, and was backhanded with its enormous claw, sending him sprawling to the opposite end of the cavern. "Atalus!" Damon yelled, making a dash to help his friend. Upon hearing his voice, the animal's head jerked around to look at him and gave a snarl. Damon stopped in his tracks and ran the opposite direction, trying to get behind two of the supporting columns that created a small arch. He dove inside just in time, but the safety was short-lived as the beast bounded into the structure, head butting it repeatedly.

Several feet away and trying to help the debilitated Atalus, Hayden watched as Damon's protection was almost destroyed. Trying to think, he suddenly remembered he had a small hunting knife in his boot. Drawing it, he let loose a yell as he sprinted towards the thing and jumped on its back, stabbing into its flesh. The creature cried out with an unearthly roar as it tried to claw Hayden off. Unable to reach him with its hands, the beast began to slash at him with its barbed tail, but only hurting itself in the process as Hayden held on with one hand flipped out of the way, making the creature stab itself. The creature then began to flail around and backed up against another column, smashing Hayden against it with crushing force. This allowed the creature to finally grab him, and fling him across the room.

Hayden's body had taken too many hits over the past day, so he was only able to watch as the creature began to trudge across the room towards him and lift a claw to kill him. As the beast reared back to finish him, Hayden saw a figure to the right of him on the outside of the cave dart by. A second later a shot rang out, and suddenly the beast began convulsing, electricity coursing across its body as it stood paralyzed in place. It tried to take a step forward but another shot rang out and hit its chest, letting Hayden see some sort of node had become attached to it, sending more shockwaves of electricity through it. The beast fell to its knees, and then fell over as it finally stopped moving.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Hayden turned to check on his companions. Damon had come out of the arch and was jogging over to help Atalus, who was barely moving. As Hayden slowly got to his feet, a figure jumped down from the outcropping onto the cavern floor near the beast. The small humanoid was wearing armor and a helmet, and sporting an odd large cylindrical weapon with a strange muzzle. The person began to poke and prod the incapacitated creature until Hayden yelled, "Hey!"

The person whirled around, aiming his contraption at Hayden. Hayden quickly threw his hands up in a gesture of pacification as the person came closer. It stopped right in front of Hayden and surveyed him head to toe before saying in a muffled voice, "Stupid humans, and a turian no less! What were you thinking coming out here?" the voice demanded.

Hayden didn't know what to say, instead hearing Damon ask, "The better question is, what's a salarian doing hunting big game?" That's when he realized what kind of species he was dealing with.

Rotating his helmet counterclockwise, the person lifted upwards as it came off with a hiss, revealing a sweating salarian. Salarians were a race that looked strikingly similar to amphibians on Earth, having long, thin elongated bodies made of cartilage, two short horns that protruded from their heads, and jet black wet eyes with pale, purplish skin.

The salarian turned to look at Damon, who was assisting Atalus, and said with an irritated gaze, "None of your concern human. In fact, I believe I saved you from a grisly and horrible death at the mercy of this targ." "Targ?" Hayden asked. "Yes, that thing," the salarian said pointing to the beast, "I've been hunting it for some time now."

"Did you kill it?" Damon asked bluntly as he looked warily at the creature. The salarian focused on him again with a look of apathy before saying, "Yes, how idiotic would I be to keep such a creature alive?" Damon looked down and rolled his eyes as they stood there looking at each other warily until Atalus began to cough violently, droplets of blood coming out of his mouth. The salarian crossed his arms and said nothing as he alternated scrutinizing them with a scowl.

Hayden looked worriedly over at his injured friend and finally said, "Look, we're thankful you helped, but we really need to get him to a doctor. Do you have some kind of transportation?" The salarian turned his scowling gaze on Hayden and said, "I've saved you once, what's it worth to me to take you?" Hayden returned the scowl at these words, but looked over at his friend's worsening condition, replying after a moment, "There's a mine filled with Prothean archives south by southwest of here, I can indicate it on your Omni-Tool." Atalus suddenly perked up and gave Hayden a shocked glance, who in return gave him a grim smile.

Turning back to the salarian, he saw that he was once again inspecting him contemplatively. After a few moments of silence, the salarian replied, "If I find out you're lying to me I will leave you here to walk all the way to the nearest settlement." He then clicked back on his helmet and started up the slope to the surface, only to turn back to the dazed wounded three to say, "Well come on! Are you going to wait until another of those things comes out and finishes you off?" This spurred them into action as Hayden rushed over to help Damon carry Atalus to the surface.


End file.
